Hanging Out at the Mall - again

For someone who dislikes the mall as much as I do, I unfortunately found myself there again. This time my mission: pictures of my boys. My firstborn son is not known for his cooperative nature. He has been known to enter a photo studio, begin crying at the threshold, and continue until we leave and everyone else is crying.

Since he's gotten a bit older, it has gotten a bit better. A bit. I had high hopes for the baby. He's very photogenic, and somewhat cooperative. He was. But you see, Ethan hit his bad streak at about 1 year old. And now Elliot is one.

Things were going well. Ethan had put on the clothing I'd picked for the photo. Under the heavy weight of multiple bribes he'd been very cooperative and both of them were playing happily in the studio waiting area. Then, it was our turn.

The moment we stepped through the door, the cooperation drained from Ethan's little body. You could just see it. Sensing this, and not willing to be outdone, Elliot began crying. We cajoled, we baited, I threatened. The photographer giggled, and tickled, and earned her pay. I think she snapped the camera all of about 10 times. I had very little hope of anything worthwhile coming from the session.

We returned an hour later to view our prints. I was amazed! She managed to capture the beauty inherent in Ethan's stubbornness. I know that sounds weird, but see for yourself:


He was refusing to cooperate, or even look at the camera, and she snapped this picture anyway.
I liked it so much I bought an 8x10. And how about this one of Elliot:



There were several more and I'll spare you the bombardment of pics of my kids. Suffice it to say that despite a difficult photo trip, I was duly impressed.