Some of the worst pictures I have ever had taken were while I was heavily pregnant. Instead of glowing, I just look tired and frumpy and just plain grouchy. Not to mention (dare I say it??) fat. I was looking at the Chiarakruza Maternity models at BellyDance Maternity, and they don’t look that way at all! They look healthy, and happy, and beautiful. And they are all standing up. And look at the way the light-colored sash and collar draw attention up to the face instead of the bulge! The model is accentuated, not just captured on film/media card.
I’m filing these ideas away for future reference! For both sides of the camera! After all, part of the photographer’s job is to make the subjects look as good as possible, and if there is one thing I absolutely do not need, it’s yet another crappy picture of myself.
Before I post today’s picture, I need to say a few words. I choose to validate my children whenever possible, and encourage their efforts. I realize than not everyone will agree with my choices, but I will counter that God didn’t give these kids to you to raise, He gave them to me. I will also say that red zinnias and orange zinnias often grow in the same flower bed together and they are beautiful in their riotous color. And furthermore,… oh never mind. Drama dressed herself this morning. Lacking the height required to reach her dress clothes, she chose this lovely ensemble. Perhaps some designer baby clothes are in order. It might improve her style, but I’m not sure she could get any cuter.
I should video this child when I pull the camera out. She has a routine she does when she sees it. the routine begins with squeezing her eyes shut, and making a big smile. Then it proceeds to eyelash batting, and then this:
As you can see, her eye is better, and a bath did wonders for her hair. No Charlotte cosmetic dentist needed.
I just looked at the pictures I took Sunday for our church directory, and I am needing an appreciative coaching pep talk. You know what that is, right? Appreciative Coaching is using positive questions, mindfulness, and other tools to acknowledge the strengths of individuals and effect change. It’s the subject of a book written by Sarah Orem, a faculty member at Capella (where you can earn a college degree online. Just sayin’.)
See, I’m upset because I got 5 or 6 six bad shots out of 47. I mean most of them came out professional quality, and I’m all hang dog. And I know what the problem was with the bad shots. It’s the way the faces on the men look to me. I’m five feet tall, and we have several very tall men in the congregation. My eye compensates for the angle at which I typically view them, but the camera does not. I can fix this by standing on a stool. It is not a big deal. But I am majorly upset over this, and I don’t understand why. It’s not like the pictures are hideous, they just aren’t great. And for every one that’s “not great”, there’s at least one that’s phenomenal. I am my own worst critic. Still.
Oh, and when I say phenomenal, I mean shots like these:
Yeah, these are my kids. I’ve got ones of church members that are equally fine, I just haven’t asked permission to put them on the internets.
Here’s DD#5 in the computer armoire. We’ve had it together for about a week, but have not yet gotten around to putting together the computer pieces and parts to go in it. She loves to crawl into that little cubby where the tower is supposed to be. She’ll be so disappointed once the computer goes in there.
And the winner is:
I used Paint to airbrush the red spot out from under her nose. I don’t know how she scraped it, but it made me cringe in almost all the shots.
Next up is DS#3, and I’ll probably do him the first of the week, since the weekend will be pretty busy.
