Our Family Photos 2012 {By....ME!?}

A few months back I came to the realization that our last family pictures had been taken over two years ago, shortly before Matt left for his most recent deployment. Of course, we'd had a few snapshots taken here and there- when he returned home, recruiting school graduation, Christmas- but I wanted something nicer! So began the search for a local photographer.

Here's where I have to be honest: I am VERY picky when it comes to photographers! Most of our family portraits have been done by a photographer in Southern Indiana near where my mom lives. He's a wonderful photographer, reasonably priced and most importantly did well with Shaun- letting him take his time each visit to warm up to everything before even attempting to get any photos taken. This is great for kids in general, but especially awesome for a kid with Autism. I've actually been going to him for photos since my junior year in high school. But unfortunately, we just don't have the time to visit as much as we would like, and I just didn't want to wait! (Though I know we'll be going back there again when we have more time!) So I went on the search for someone more local.

Did I mention I am extremely picky? See, while I may not be the best photographer in the world, I do know enough about photography to know what is professional quality. In fact, I've had others ask me why *I* don't charge for pictures, and the answer is simply that I know that they are not up the standards I have for myself to be able to justify charging, so I refuse to do so at this point. Unfortunately, others don't have that same standard and believe a nice camera makes you a photographer (a pet peeve of mine to be honest). Don't get me wrong, I found many awesome photographers in our area whom I would have loved to gone to, but unfortunately those just weren't within our budget at the moment. The more affordable photographers I found, just weren't awesome. Not all were horrible, but they just weren't amazing, and I could not bring myself to pay money for something that I felt I could do an equal, if not better job at myself.

So that's exactly what I decided to do- take my own family photos! It took some convincing on my husband's part, but I finally got the go ahead to give it a try! With the help of my trusty tripod and camera remote (seriously, I'd love to thank whoever invented these things!), we made it work. Now granted, I only got one photo where Matt smiled, though that's typical for him in photos! And not one where Shaun was actually looking at the camera, though again typical- we'll blame the Autism for that one! But overall, I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Not professional quality by any means, but so much better than just a random snapshot.

Here are a few of my favorite shots of the day:

This is one of my favorites, and the only where Matt actually really smiled! Even though Shaun wasn't looking, I love this look of adoration on his face. You can see the love he has for Mommy and Daddy and to me that is better than any photo with eye contact. One hundred percent real family love.

I shared this one yesterday, but I have to share it again because it's my other favorite! The original idea was that Shaun was to cover his eyes and make an 'eww' face. But when does Shaun ever really cooperate so well? At least he was looking down, and I believe had his eyes shut, so it still worked! This was also the hardest to take because I could not see what Shaun was doing, or if the camera had actually snapped! Definitely worth the trouble though! (And in case you Shabby Apple fans are wondering- yes, that is their Aloha dress I'm wearing!)

There is something about this one I really like too, despite Matt looking as bored as I am certain he felt at this point. I'll be honest too, I've never felt that I was that great at black and white photos either (yes, there is more to making an awesome B&W than just turning it to grayscale), but I was really pleased with how this one turned out!

When I redid this frame ages ago, I immediately thought it would be wonderful for photos! Unfortunately, this was the first chance I actually had to use it! I was fairly pleased with how they turned out, but to be honest, I had many more ideas that would have required me to be behind the camera too.

I don't know what was with my hair at that point...must have been either the wind (I was moving hair our of my face all day) or all that running back and forth checking my settings and making sure the camera was positioned properly, but either way, there was something I still liked about this one!

I wish I had gotten more photos with this outfit combination...I loved these colors together (you wouldn't believe how hard it was to actually find outfits for all three of us that coordinated!). Unfortunately, it was cold and windy, and the boys were ready to be done at this point! I did take a few more after this, in a different spot, but I was in such a hurry trying to finish for the boys, that I forget to check and change my settings back (I was doing it right and shooting in manual), and they ended up way overexposed. Well, you live and you learn, right? Next time I'll remember to check every time!

So those are my family photos! As I said, they aren't as awesome as they could be, but I'm happy with them! At the very least, they didn't cost me a dime, and gave me some more experience with posing, etc.


P.S. Don't forget to enter my Stella & Dot giveaway! You seriously don't want to miss out!