Taking a Picture (or a Hundred)

Last week, Mel and I ventured out to have portraits of our daughters taken together. The girls have been BFFs since they were 6 weeks old, so we thought it would be nice to get holiday photos of them. We went to Portrait Innovations in the Glen Shopping Center in Glenview. It was crowded when we arrived, but luckily didn't have to wait too long. There is a Legos table that occupied them until the photographer was ready for them.

The photography itself went quickly; they are pros and efficient at setting up different backdrops and getting kids into suitable poses. (Ours was also skilled at pulling natural smiles out of them, which is no small feat). Soon enough, we were looking over the session at a computer.

Now, if you are someone indecisive like me, this part of the process is a little like Chinese water torture. We ended up with 100+ shots (close to $900, if we had bought sheets of them all), which we had to narrow down. I didn't fully understand the pricing and the packages the studio offered, and I was hoping Mel did. (wait, we need to spend how much to get a DVD?). Thankfully the girls had their own opinions - strong opinions - about what they liked and what they didn't. Mine hates, HATES sepia tones. However, with no real cash to pay for anything, the final decisions fell to the mamas.

I think we spent and hour to an hour and a half finalizing our choices. I thought I narrowed as much as I could...looking over everything now, I see that I am going to have some excess. I am thinking of incorporating some wallet sized shots into Christmas gifts (ornaments, maybe?). My favorite pic (and everyone else's, perhaps) is a shot of the two girls looking at each other. With the expressions on their faces, it just encapsulates their relationship to a T. Mel and I, for reasons known to ourselves, refer to it as "the Edies picture." I smile every time I look at it. It is priceless.