When my children were babies and preschoolers, I used to take them in for the “professional” photo sittings. I have some great photos of them in galvanized tubs and all dressed and scrubbed for “picture day”–but, I have to admit that my favorite photos are those candid ones taken on the spur of the moment: grubby camping kids, eating corn dogs at the county fair, splashing in the kiddy pool altogether in the back yard, holding up a slimy fish. While my stairway is lined with the school and “professional portraits”–the photos scattered all over my house are the candid ones.
Recently a friend of mine called to say that her first granddaughter had just had her first “professional” photos taken at the age of two. She’d been looking over the proofs to see what they should order and fell in love with a photo of the child scowling. This SO reminded me of my own taste–I like the photos that really show character and personality and not necessarily the posed pictures that look like they could be any child anywhere–I like the ones where my individual child’s true character-of-the-moment shines through!
I’ve never had really expensive, family photos done by a professional photographer. I’ve been tempted, as a matter of fact I tend to think of it every holiday season, but I have never got around to organizing it. I’ve always thought that would be cool to have all of us in some sort of outdoorsy, appropriate location–but the task of organizing all four of us to get to one place, at the same time, and looking half-way decent seemed daunting.
Perhaps, in the end, we’re like most families and we have some of both–the “head shots” and the candid photos (but I still like the candid photos better!)
See also: Business Photos–Professional, Digital, or What? and Using Professional Photos in Your Scrapbook Layouts