So, I'm thinking about our holiday card - and I am already stressed out. This is an annual debacle for me. Year after year I say that we are going to take pictures of ourselves ALL YEAR LONG to avoid the last minute rush to capture something - anything - that we can plaster on our holiday card. And then I spend another year hiding behind the camera and arrive in November with 10438484838299 photos of Hubby and the fur-babes and approximately 2 of myself. And they are always HORRIBLE.
I know, I know - no one likes to hear yet another whining rant about how effing UNphotogenic I am, but seriously people - getting a decent photo of me is akin to passing a health care bill in congress. It is painful - oh so painful. I literally look like an entirely different person in photos - its kind of baffling.
Anyway - I'm thinking about this year's card - and hoping that we can capture a few decent family shots this weekend as we're headed to KY for a wedding and can bug my Mom to take a billion photos of us (hi Mom!). I'd love to avoid the last minute rush, the cliche posed image, yet again. I'd like something a little more creative - a little more indicative of our style, of us. So send prayers, and good thoughts, and photo-shop, and tips for avoiding the whale look - m'kay?
Last year, while at my parents for Thanksgiving, we had my Mom do an impromptu photo shoot on her deck, in the snow (hi again Mom!) - only to find out after we had returned home and placed the order for our holiday cards, that the resolution was not sufficient. So...this little (not at all posed. not at all cliche. obviously) gem became instantly unusable:
What to do? Obviously we had to rig a self-portrait photo shoot with our then mediocre point and shoot Sony camera (before I owned the fancy camera). On our deck. Before our morning commute. Because mornings are not AT ALL harried in our house. Hubby strategically placed a dining room chair over the deck railing and then carefully balanced the camera on top. Note: we live in Chicago where it is not only possible, but entirely likely, that gale force winds will take both the camera and the chair airborne before this photo shoot concludes. (Just wanted you to be aware of our odds) He then set the timer and we proceeded to get about 37561293 shots of hubby's back as he walked toward us and me laughing hysterically because WE. CANNOT. FIGURE. OUT. THE. TIMER.
Seriously, its a miracle we managed to get an image with our eyes open. Or with all of our heads captured in the frame.
Oops, Hubby didn't make it into the frame in time (read: this is hilarious. and out of focus. and also? apologies for the multitude of chins displayed herein):
Oh yes, fantastic. Because really, who needs to see the top of Hubby's head? I'm sure all will realize it is there (also my smile is entirely genuine, can't you tell? and the fur-babes need haircuts - apologies):
The winner by default. Not because of its staggering genius, no. Because all 4 of us are actually in the photo. With our eyes open (even if Jack is looking elsewhere - really, who could blame him at this point?). I'd also like to apologize for the background - past the point of creativity, the ugliest corner of our deck seemed the perfect place to shoot our photo (I do believe we at least made this B&W before forcing so many of you to add this to your fridge decoration for the entire holiday season):
The good news? Really, the only option from here is improvement. I'm sure you're dying to see what we'll come up with - stay tuned for more on Holiday Card 2009.
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