Portraiture

I have no idea how people are able to get those perfectly posed professional photos of their kids.  Their kids are not like our kids.  Getting one kid to look at the camera and deliver a natural-looking smile is a near impossible task for us.  Getting both kids to do it simultaneously without at least one parent trying to adjust a dresses or collar or wipe some drool is something I just can't even imagine.

We had the photographer for an hour, at the park across the street from our house.  I even baited Huelan with a tadpole catching session immediately after the photo shoot if she would cooperate.  That's a biiiiig incentive.  That wasn't fully effective.  I'm admittedly overly critical with these sorts of things, so while we did end up with a few pretty good ones, immediately after the shoot I was pretty frustrated.  I've taken enough pictures to know what it feels like to potentially have some great shots, and this did not feel like that. At least we got one of the four of us that will work, which honestly was more of a relief than anything. It was the first time we'd brought in a pro photographer and I was hoping for some magic.  Oh well. Huelan wins this round, but I want a rematch.

Here's a pic of her after she scooped up some tadpoles.  She even managed to snag a baby frog. Strictly catch-and-release. At least we had one good smile out of her that day!