How we take a photo

These days trying to get one good photo is a challenge. I thought I would share with you a couple of series of photos, which make me laugh as I'm editing them. For many of the photos you see here, I've gone through quite a few to get the money shot. Emmy is in this phase of making silly or strange faces. Or she's trying to help get Matthew to smile, which means she's not looking at the camera when he finally is. Maddening, I tell you.

Here is a good example from New Year's Day. I wanted a nice photo of them since it was a holiday. Emmy was grumpy, at first, about having her picture made.

Both of them started off looking pretty cranky.

She quickly got the giggles. 

Now he's grinning.

But she cannot stop laughing. 

This is as good as it got. The silly went downhill from there. 

She started sticking out her tongue so I threw in the towel. 

In this fun series from a couple of days ago, I wanted a quick photo of them in some new shirts my mom had sent. She had ordered both shirts a little big, and Emmy's was quite big. Though she likes the shirt, it was too uncomfortable to wear (she has major issues these days about clothes and their fit/feel), and I told her she did not have to wear it yet, we could save it for next winter. But, I did want to take one quick photo of them in the shirts to send to SuSu to thank her. Somehow she missed this information, so when I forced them to sit down for photos, well you can see for yourself:

Grumpy.

Daddy is trying hard to get them to smile. 

Suddenly, she will "help" make Matthew smile by making a silly face.

Meanwhile he's about done. 

Now she's "smiling" and he's grumpy. 

Daddy tries to readjust and get him smiling again. 

He wasn't having it. 

Really not having it. 

And he's done. 

Don't worry, he was smiling just a moment later. 

And in neither case did I get a really good photo of the two of them at the same time. There's always next time!