Family Photos - Behind the Scenes

I do love having current family photos and I look forward to seeing them every year, but the actual process is not so fun. At least at this stage of life. There never really is a good day to take them, but this time Henry got a nap and we had the day off, so it seemed like we would be ok. I planned to just drive out towards Mt. Charleston and find a spot along the way with a cool desert setting - lots of spots to choose from and no other families waiting for a good spot (like at Floyd Lamb Park last year).

I decided to not hire a photographer and try to take them myself, using a tripod for the family photo with all of us in it. So another reason to not go to a popular, crowded photo spot - no pressure to hurry or get it right the first time. I am still learning my camera settings and it takes longer to get set up.

We had brought some chairs to sit on - which turned out to be a waste of energy since the photos where we used the chairs didn't turn out. Miles and Claire fought over a chair, even though there were two other empty chairs nearby. Claire pushed Miles down into the desert dirt and rocks, resulting in scraped hands and dirty black pants. We had just got there... greeeaaaaat.

Henry also brought along a bright yellow monster truck - somehow that got past me in the car. He took it out to the desert and was in heaven. He dug a track into the soft dirt and pushed the truck over and over.  See how happy he is? And how dirty?

Then I tried to take it away and he cried and cried! Hence, this photo with Henry looking mad at the world... and Penelope trying to shade her eyes from the setting sun using Matt as a shield. It didn't quite work.

Penelope also wanted to collect rocks - a lot of rocks. And she didn't want to put them down for fear she would never find her special collection again. What else could I do put take a photo of them so we would know which rocks were hers :)

I think we got a few good photos - we just really need one, right?