Who's in Charge Here, Anyway?

I will be the first to admit, I am not a photographer. I should have taken the class at Ricks with Todd. I know enough to know I'm not getting the results I'm really going for.

I also LOVE digital photography. The best part is being able to click as many photos as I want without feeling like I'm wasting film, and then I can delete the "bad" ones. It fools me and others into thinking I'm a better photographer than I really am, because by the time I'm done cropping, editing, and deleting, it looks fairly decent.

Since it's been a while for pictures of Em, --- real pictures, not the ones that are snapped in a hurry with cluttered backgrounds and Mom in bedhead and a ratty t-shirt --- and since I hadn't yet put away the Valentine's decor, I wanted to get some nicer shots taken.

Emma cooperated. Eventually.

I knew I wanted natural light and a "fresh" baby, so we got going first thing after Daddy left for work. She didn't start out so hot.......

Boy, if that's the look I'm going to get, maybe we should forget photos! She didn't even have the pants on yet... this was the very first photo I shot. I was just hoping to get her used to my staged backdrop.

Getting a 16-month-old to sit [still] proved challenging. (No surprise there!) But the way she started hugging the stuffed dog was promising. We might have something here.....

Or not. Sixteen-month-olds are also easily distracted. I would straighten up the props, sit her there, hand her the dog and quickly snap one photo before she moved away again. We ended up taking a break from photos, and went tile & paint shopping with Daddy. (Two steps closer to finishing the basement boys' bathroom remodel!! Things are starting to move right along -- we're SO excited!!)

Later we came back and tried for a few more pictures. This is Emma exhausted now. No nap, and it was nearly 2:00 pm. Not a good sign. I wasn't even sure if we'd get anything usable. (Would leaving the couch out in the middle of the living room be TOO much inconvenience if we had to continue our photo session to the next day?)

Emma had her own ideas. She got one of her fleece blankets. This one happens to be pink, so since it meets with the Valentine theme, I didn't remove it. After letting her lay down with it (oh no -- maybe she's done for sure and only wants to sleep!) I managed to sit her with the blanket, then started adding props and the dog.... and snapped several shots, including this very last shot:

Which I love!!

So, of course, this is the one we'll give to the Grandmas, send to Brandon in Jamaica, and put on the wall at Welenco for the loyal customers who have watched her grow and keep asking, "How's that baby doing?"

And everyone will end up thinking all these positive thoughts about it, without ever knowing the lengths we went through to get this one photo out of her!