Seven years….that’s how long it had been since we last had our family photos taken.
Seven years.
My 2 year old, Thomas the Tank Engine driving, Cars watching, golden locks of curls son, is now a 9 year old 4th grader, who loves to play Minecraft and would eat Nutella sandwiches or McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I’d let him.
My 6 year old, spunky, always smiling, tippy-toe walking, deep brown-eyed baby girl is now a 13 year old trumpet playing, straight As, Dr. Who loving, always has a hug for you, teenager!
And my 9 year old, spit-fire, stubborn since the day she was born, blonde daughter with her great-grandmother’s grey-blue eyes, is now my beautiful 16 year old daughter, Walking Dead watcher, who still maintains all the previous traits, minus the blonde hair…as she is now a red head! (with the temper to match!)
Seven years has seen us come full circle from Hawaii, to Texas, to Virginia and back to Hawaii.
Seven years has involved 2 vacations to Australia, a deployment for my husband, 2 dogs, 2 cats (plus 5 kittens!) and selling 2 homes in 2 different states.
And apparently seven years is a long enough time to forget the stress of having family photos taken. I honestly don’t know how my clients do this every year. Don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful to my faithful clients, who come back year after year for those precious family photos, but how do you do it? What is your secret? The stress of finding the perfect outfit. Deciding on a location. The anxiety of cooperating children (and husband!). Augh…it’s enough to drive a mother crazy. Surely I am not the only one?
Seven years ago, my best friend from high school, Leanne, came to visit us in Hawaii for my birthday. She was a photographer back home in Australia and I asked her if she would take our portraits while she was here. She came shopping with me and helped pick out what we would wear. She watched as I yelled at the kids to brush their hair. Laughed at me as I fussed when they wrinkled their clothes. And I’m sure she rolled her eyes as I grew impatient when they started to cry. When we got to the beach, she could tell I was so worried about getting the perfect family photo, so she sent me for a walk and told me to leave her alone!!! WHAT? But how could she possibly get decent photos of my kids without me there telling them what to do? I wanted the photos to be real. To capture how we really were as a family. To capture each of my children’s unique personalities. And how could they possibly be themselves if I wasn’t there to tell them how to act???
Well, needless to say, the photos turned out amazing. I simply adore them. Leanne captured each of my children exactly how I wanted them to be seen and remembered. The pensiveness of my 9 year old, the joy in my 6 year old and the carefree attitude of my 2 year old. ***3 of these images have been scanned. Please excuse the discoloration***
Fast forward seven years…
It’s that time again. But I have to be honest, only because my now 16 year old told me I couldn’t put the big family photos back on the wall of our new house! Apparently her friends ask if she has a 2 year old brother when they come to visit for the first time! But they were so damn cute when they were little and didn’t have opinions of their own!
So it began. The hunt for the clothes. This was possibly the most stressful of all. With 2 teenage girls, I couldn’t just go and buy them what I wanted them to wear. It became an all day event. For those of you who know me well, know that I HATE malls and shopping. It makes me want to cry. It sends me into panic attacks. I spiral very quickly when faced with the daunting task of shopping at the mall. Give me a grocery cart and grocery store any day of the week…now that is relaxing to me!
After what seemed like forever (it was probably only 3 hours) the girls and I were done. Now for the boys. That would be easy. They are, after all, boys and don’t really care what they wear. So what do I do in true Debbie fashion?…I put it off, because, again, it’s shopping. So you guessed it, the night before our session, I found myself running around all over Oahu looking for exactly what I wanted the boys to wear. (and hoped that it fit so I wouldn’t have to exchange anything…which you know, of course, I did!)
The morning of our session, my hair and make up artist, Sheena came over to do my makeup. I splurged on myself for this session. When I photograph women, I always have them pampered with hair and make up. I decided to do the same for myself. It’s amazing how much confidence you gain behind a full set of fake eye lashes!
Brenda met us in Chinatown. Why would we take photos in Chinatown when we live on the beautiful island of Oahu? For one, we had our last photos taken on the beach. And secondly, I really wanted to have a completely different look for these photos. More of a Fall look. A little edgier than last time. Nothing crazy, just different. Chinatown was perfect.
I absolutely love the way the images turned out. Brenda did an amazing job. They capture us as we are in this moment of time. Nothing pretentious. Nothing perfect. Awkward and real. As I sit here looking at them, the stress that lead up to the day melts away. I guess in a way, it’s kind of like child birth. They say you forget the pain when you have a beautiful new, tiny baby looking back at you. The same is true (for me) with our family photo shoots. I wish I had taken the time to have family photos taken every year, to capture our growing family. But you can’t go back. So I will treasure these and make the effort to have family photos taken each year from now on. Lesson learned….I will remind myself to breathe. It’s one day. Before I know it, my children will be gone and making memories of their own. These photos will be the legacy of our family. The Jones family…established Jan. 25, 1995.
