Professional Pictures

Yesterday, after months of debate, I decided to take the boys in for professional pictures. This ordeal is very different here than in the states. I would compare it somewhat to taking a child in for glamor shots. The photographer provides outfits, makeup, tons of props and backgrounds, and is known to touch up faces, etc. before printing them. Well, I asked my househelper if she could help us out. Yesterday after picking up Josiah from school we walked down the street to a place I had seen many times, with no clue that they took pictures. It looks like a small (like the size of our bathroom) room with a copy machine, computer, and desk. Since I am illiterate here, there seems to be much I miss. A door in the side of this small room opened up to two other small spaces, one full of costumes and makeup, and another where the pictures are taken and is filled with props. I let the photographer know that I wanted the boys to stay in their own clothes, wanted a white background, and did not want to include any props. This was easier said than done, both she and my househelper were very surprised by my choice. Once that was all worked out we started taking pictures. It went great! Josiah had great fun laughing on command, completely surprising his mother. Jacob was much more interested in playing with all the stuff in the room, so we did include some toys in the pictures for his benefit. One thing I was very thankful for was that it was just me, our househelper, and the photographer in the room. The boys were completely comfortable and didn't have too many eyes on them and hands trying to help. Immediately after taking the pictures I picked out my favorites and ordered them. I discovered that black and white pictures is not at all common here, took me a long time to get that one across. Then, just before leaving, I was asked what added stuff I wanted included in the pictures. The photographer suggested flowers. I hoped I was able to communicate that I wanted them just as they were and was really curious what I would find when I went back today to pick them up. Well, they are okay. Boys look great, but the pictures were 'photoshopped' like crazy. They now look like they are floating in midair and just cut and pasted into the picture. Jared and I are trying to decide if we want to go back and see if she still has the originals. I would really like to have a couple bigger ones printed but am not sure about having the boys "floating" on my wall. Anyways, overall I was really excited about the experience. I think I was expecting it to be much worse and we had a pretty successful adventure. We have also made a new friend in the photographer. I hope to get to know her more in the future. Here were my favorites, hope you enjoy.