Sunday, January 13, 2013

Capturing this moment: Family Pictures 2012

Why do we do it to ourselves?  Is it really worth it?  Family pictures again? 

I ask these questions of myself when the time rolls around each year.  The baby is guaranteed to not nap at the right time.  The older kids who are normally quite cooperative in public situations will decide that today is the day to experiment with hyperactivity.  Someone will refuse to wear the outfit that I have stressed over for weeks.  Someone else will fall and scrape their knee.  There will be tears over hair not looking right.  Fights.  Bribes and more bribes.  Threats.  Frustration.  Tension.  Smile!  

Yet we forge ahead...determined to capture this moment in our family!

A few months ago in October 2012, Ryan's sister, Rhonda was in town visiting.  She has a booming professional photography business in Los Angeles: Rhonda Harris Photography.  I have seen her work--follow her blog--and am always in awe.  But I hadn't had the pleasure of witnessing and benefiting from her talent first hand.  She was incredible!  You could tell that she loved what she did and didn't let the inevitable whims of children dampen her excitement and joy.  Her relaxed, fun attitude was contagious!  I normally worry every time a child doesn't cooperate and feel that it's my job to "fix" their mood (yeah, right!)  But not with Rhonda.  She knew just how to tweak poses to take the pressure off of a kid that was anxious and was happy to move on and come back when things weren't working.  It was almost fun!  Besides the results were amazing.

So, are annual family pictures worth it?  Yes!  Even the ones that weren't so fun are treasured masterpieces to me.  I love the millions of candid snapshots that we have crammed on computer hard drives.  But the annual family pictures are milestones to me.  Pictures that we will treasure and display forever that will help us to remember the good and happy parts of this episode of our family.

So enjoy...these are just a few...



































4 comments:

Tawnya said...

What adorable family pictures!!! And you are right, they are always worth it!

Anna said...

Oh I love them! We have your Christmas card on our notice board in th kitchen and it just makes me really want some family pictures taking! Our last ones were nearly 2 years ago now. Was so great to speak to you amongst the crazy Christmas goings on!

Tolberts in Motion said...

Those look great JaNae! The girls are getting so big and so beautiful! Glad to see the picture adventure went so well!

Troy said...

Cute pictures! Cute family!

Rhonda is absolutely amazing and she has quite the eye. I love the natural back-lighting.