So here’s my problem: if taking pictures is getting easier and easier, how come getting the right shot for my photo Christmas cards is such a trial and tribulation? If you’re saying, “Don’t I know it,” then you are probably also aware of how the challenges when taking pictures convolute over the passage of time. The scheduling alone could make you give up on taking photos. Who is available? When? Who first needs a haircut he doesn’t want and who just got a haircut she hates? If one of your teens begs, “Wait ‘til I lose another five pounds,” the other whines, “If we don’t do it now while my face is clear, I don’t want to do it at all!”
You know how it goes when taking family photos – when they are small children, the biggest challenge when taking pictures is patience, both yours and theirs. Getting more than one child at a time to face the camera and smile, without moving and without having a finger stuck in mouth or ear or nose (not necessarily their own), is enough of a miracle. Having them all come out in the photos looking like the adorable angels you know they are, rather than like the little trolls one facial twist can produce, is quite another miracle.
But then they mature and you plan your ideal photo greeting cards – a lovely fireside tableau during your collegian’s Thanksgiving homecoming. And so, just in time for your photo op, your high school teen has a freshly broken arm set in an awkward position and your littlest angel has puffy red eyes and drippy red nose. Guess what? Even if you, eventually some year, do manage to produce a photo greeting card showing “family perfection,” that’s not the family photo you will love best. Oh no, your favorite photo cards will be the ones showing sniffles and clunky casts, bad hair cuts and mischievous, gap-toothed facial expressions. Those are the real keepers!