i’m a little bit crazy when it comes to photos of my kids.
i like to take them. lots of them. and i like to take them for them. lots of them. more than most. When Emily was a baby, i took her to Sears pretty much every two months. Sears was cheap ($6.99 for a package) and it was easy. the pictures weren’t that great, and the photographers were 13-year-old kids who didn’t know their heads from their arses, but, $6.99 was hard to argue with.
then i discovered Loblaws portrait studio. pretty inexpensive (i think $24.99 for 7 sheets). better quality. less cheesy. more of what i liked. and the photographers were slightly older, maybe 17. they offered black and white and sepia options for no extra money. i heart sepia.
but there’s nothing like the professional portrait studio. nothing.
when Emily turned one, we took her for pictures at Here’s My Baby.
the photographer, Frank, knew what he was doing. he took one look at her and had a creative vision for her. he knew what props to use. what poses to have her in. his assistant was down on the floor with knee pads on. she had all the right tricks – like a clever red laser, the baby would follow the laser into the exact spot that Frank wanted her to look. amazing. it blew me away.
the middle child, the boy, missed out, once again. we decided not to go back to Here’s My Baby, and went to a photographer called David Amoils. while we loved the shot of Joshie and the one we bought of the two kids together, it just wasn’t the same.
So, for Isabella’s one year shots, there was no question. we were going back to Frank at Here’s My Baby. Since I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside the studio, all i have from the day are a few shots of the two older bunnies, who were total hams yesterday.
i can’t wait to see the proofs. can’t wait.
what about you? professional shots of your kids? where do you go? how often? think it’s totally worth spending the extra money on the super professionals, or a huge waste?
song that’s rocking my socks today: I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor by Arctic Monkeys.
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Great pictures! I think Sears has gotten better with time, they now do Sepia, ‘art’ photos etc. I too wasn’t a fan of their cheap and chearful! lol
Kate
In year 2000 and then again in 2002 I took shots of my kids every month for the first 6 months of their lives and then every 3 months at Sears. Sears used to be great because I’d bring my own props, chose the same background each time so the pics would look good together and they always gave great gifts like magnet frames. There were coupons in the mail so the shots would end up to be really cheap and there were always wallet sizes to go around for all of those bubies etc. Then they stopped the gifts, prices went up and we didn’t need 6 copies of each pic. NOW we just upload the pics from the digital camera straight to Evening and Dash’s websites. http://www.knecht.ca/evening
http://www.knecht.ca/dashiell
no more scanning so we have “MORE TIME ON OUR HANDS” HOW LIKELY IS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!
lovely kids!!!
Funny this, I had Jeremy done at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2 years, then Toby at 7 months, & 14 months and ummmm, Miranda had some cheapies done at the local pharmacy at 4 months and since then we tried the pharmacy again and the pictures were CRAPPPPP….so I took them to one of these places which set up in the mall and at least they used a digital camera, and the proofs look lovely.
As my parents live in Canada and we live in Australia, they have always said they would love a group photo of the children which we have now done. Can’t wait to see the proofs tomorrow too!!!
(Too bad I can’t get my daughter to actually SMILE…)
thanks, Kath 🙂
Yep. It’s time for the annual argument with dh over whether or not to get photos taken. Now we make more $, so hopefully it will be okay. I am considering taking them without saying word one to dh. I try to go as cheap as possible, but we need the Christmas card photos. That’s the main point, and that’s the main cost. We do JCPenney, so it’s not too expensive. Now they’re older and will sit for two kids one picture, which should save money. Do we need wallets every year? Probably! Do we need 5x7s for family? Hm. Every year? Do we need to continue the 8×10 tradition every year? Hm. See, and now I have to consult dh. *sigh!*
Your pictures are gorgeous. I love them. Worth any effort and expense, imo.
Oh yeah…forgot to mention…your kids are totally adorable 🙂
Yeah, lump me in the BAD Mommy camp. Babe #1 got a Sears session at least twice/year – we went once when Babe #2 was about 6 mths old and then never again. We don’t have Loblaws out West, just Real Canadian Superstore and they don’t do portraits. Lots of people go to Wal-Mart, but I refuse to shop there (that’s a whole other thread!) and besides, I think the photos usually look even cheesier than Sears (what is with that tiny, white wicker chair that they all seem to have?). Anyway, DH has turned out to be pretty good behind the lens of our digital cam so he’s officially on portrait duty, and I took up scrapbooking explicity to “even out” the photograph imbalance between the two kids. Now I’m even more horribly behind than ever! Cheers!
I have a professional session reserved for me with HORVATH! I got it as a gift when the monkey was 2 months! I haven’t used it!!! Bad mommy, BAD! Otherwise, we have THOUSANDS of pictures that we’ve taken ourselves. I don’t post them because, well, you know overprotective me….
About your pics? No words. Just OY OY OY! 😉 fadorable!
I did the Here’s My Baby thing too and Frank was really good and the second time I had Francesca who was just as good and now has her own place so I’m thinking of taking the kids there to do one with all 3 and maybe the dog….
I used Sears a couple of times which was okay nothing special and i tried to use Great Canadian (like Loblaws) but my daughter just wouldn’t sit to take a picture. I used to give out pictures at their birthday party (Christopher’s birtday is a week after Samantha and Emma’s so I do all 3 together) but I haven’t since that incident and I’ve just been doing my own Christmas card pictures through Future Shop’s online photo shop. Beats the hassle of having to go somewhere and I feel like I’m being creative!!
Sharing photos is a great expression of how proud we are of our monkeys, your kids are too cute! My favourite photos are the ones that show up when we get the film developed that were taken buy my kids (without my permission of course). Yes, our family is a freak of nature and does not have a digital camera. Too much pressure for me to carry something around that I will of course out down somewhere and forget. We buy several of disposable ones and keep them in the vehicles, house, garage, purse etc so I have one handy when I want and that way if it is misplaced, not such a big deal.
When the kids use their own artistic talent (usually to catch an unauthorized act in progress that I would have not known about it they had caught it on camera, silly them). Upside down, half a body, modeling poses with their friends and our cat, Washington, all dressed up.
My kids love to look at photos – especially of those photos taken before ‘their’ time. Keeps them busy until the next fight starts…
We won a session with professional who came to our home. And it included the adult. So, for the first time we have photos of all of us together, looking great…mostly.
I think if you have the money, once a year is not unreasonable.
If you do not have the money, buy yourself some nice black and white film, and hope for the best….
Your children are beautiful by the way.
that’s funny. yesterday, every time i put Isabella down on the floor, she’d sit for about 8 seconds and then start crawling over to me.
i was so nervous that it was going to be a disaster and i kept saying, “she’s not usually like this. she loves the camera” and i just kept thinking…that’s for sure what everyone says!!
but then she got really into it and was a total ham.
with boy #1, i was at picture people every month (almost) till he turned 1, and then every 3 months or so. and like everyone warned me, it has come back to bite me in the ass with boy #2. ive tried, oh, i’ve tried, to get as many pictures of him as boy #1, but boy #2 HATES picture people. the worlds happiest baby screams the moment he gets put down on the backdrop. so as a result, i have very few pictures of boy #2 around the house…and picture people probably hates me – i only go when i have a coupon, take my one favorite shot home, and scan/print for everyone who wants.
i highly recommend loblaws, Jen. the pictures come out amazing 😉
I’m a bad mommy! Since my daughter got all her hair cut off by a 5 year old barber (aka butcher) – read My Beautiful Bald Little Girl here http://urbanmoms.typepad.com/the_lounge/2005/09/index.html – I have not taken my kids for photos. It has been a year!
Now that she has hair we’ll get photos for the holidays…probably at Sears or Loblaws.