Picture Project Nightmare

You may have noticed the super cute picture frame we made for my mother-in-law, Mamie, for Christmas.  In case you can't see the picture well enough - each photo is of her grandkids holding a letter that spells out her name, We Love M-A-M-I-E.  What you didn't see was the hellacious 4 months it took to pull this off.

Way back in September, my sister emailed me an example suggesting it would be a sweet Christmas present for our dad, Grampy.  Agreed!  She and I split up the letters in his name and committed to capture our kids holding them.  It was so cute - I would only be responsible for 3 pictures - and it was September, PLENTY OF TIME - so I decided to do this also for my mother-in-law.


The irony is that although the idea originated with my family, my dad still has yet to get HIS version of this present.


Anyway, what seemed like a great idea in theory soon became a living reality - taking pictures of small kids is HARD and only gets harder when you try to introduce props!!!  What were we thinking???  There are generally less than 10 seconds to snap any photo of your kid - less when you have bribed them into doing something completely unnatural (like hold a wooden 9" letter upright, not blocking their face, and smiling).  Much less trying to get angle and lighting all a gazillion other elements just right.  


I would snap hundreds of photos only to realize the lighting was a bit off.  Or the letter ended up partially covered.  Or the letter was too small in the background.  Or the only picture of the kid smiling turned out blurry.  Or that I accidentally shot them all horizontally when they should have been vertical!  TORTURE!!!


I think this was my first attempt (never mind that I later realized I actually had purchased the letter W instead of an M).

Sydney refused to hold the letter and when I tried propping it in the foreground, she'd just grab and toss it to the side.  I got this face a lot.

I had to get more creative with her.  Distraction!


Here Sydney!  Swing and smile!

Look at the pretty lemons!

Mmmm.  Cumquats!  

How about this mom!

Always pay close attention to your surroundings!  One minor angle adjustment and you get this... Roto-Rooter.

A couple of times, in my delirium, I tried to capture pics of BOTH kids in the photo with the letter.  

I think he's being threatened here.  Whether she's making it clear he should not cooperate with me - or never pull her pony tail again - I'm not sure.

Posing them for pictures on the stairs was not my best moment.  For the record, no child was injured in the making of this project.

Fletcher had been the easier one.  But once he got mobile, his photos became immensely harder.  


Good idea.  Fast kid.  Slow mommy.  Failed execution.

What made it more painful were the completely adorable photos my sis-in-law took of her four older and much more cooperative kids.  

It gives me hope.


Although painful, when we got this reaction Christmas morning...

...I realized it was all worthwhile.  I'm so glad she liked it.  Treasure it forever, Mamie.  Cause I won't be doing this again anytime soon!