Cobblers children go unshod, and photographers kids unphotographed!

Tried a little experiment the other day with my family, i reasoned that taking pictures of other peoples families on a regular basis would enable me with magical powers of persuasion, for my own family.  

I was wrong, my lovely children hate hate hate when I pull out my camera for them!  It almost comical, in retrospect how un cooperative they become. My oldest makes the oddest faces like a cross between a sad clown and a petulant teenager, she's 6.  My little guy, middle child and boisterous boy, he either over hams it in ridiculous cheesy grins, or he pulls a pout pout fish and grumps it up big time!  And the baby, if she isn't hiding her face behind her hands, or making silly monster faces at me she is pushing her chin to the sky and yelling cheeseburger.  In combination these three make taking a family picture my personal holy grail!   

So back to my experiment, I choose a location my kids love, is picturesque, and involved a short drive.  We depart, I and my husband explain to the kids, we are taking pictures first, playing second.  We receive  chorus of yes mams and sirs.  

We arrive, I pump myself up for the six shots I really want to capture, a family group shot, three kids together, my kids individually, and my husband and I.  Shot one the kids, God Bless them! Its a hot mess, they are taking off in three different directions, and when I finally get them all wrangled I am met with this overwhelming three way glare!  In the end this is my favorite...

I won't bore you with the fruitless search for each childs portrait of sorts, but I will close with a sneak peak at what using a timer, balancing your camera on rocks and using the neckstrap as a prop will yield!  And of course I will share the one decent image of all five of us, I use the term decent very loosely here because well, you'll see.  

In conclusion, hire some one to take your family pictures, even if it is what you do for a living!!!!