Christmas Pictures 2014

Cloudy with heavy drizzle and fog....not the ideal weather conditions for an out door photo shoot. I have a knack for scheduling my photo shoots on the most inopportune days. In this case, though, I actually checked the weather [I usually don't] mainly because Monday's blustery cold front caught me off-guard. Thursday, though partly cloudy, would be pleasantly warm compared to the other days, and I was relying on that weather report [as much as you can rely on a weather report] to hold true. But, as fate would have it, the heavens opened up and saturated my plans. I called my mom to get the weather report in her area [the location of the shoot], and it hadn't yet started to drizzle. A ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy forecast. Instead of taking a much needed shower, I herded my children into the car and sped to Taylor to beat the rain [within the speed limit, of course].

I still had to get my children ready.

When they were dressed to perfection, we jumped in the car to head to the downtown area, and we were met with, not the expected drizzle and gloom, but bright, smile inducing sunshine. I'm pretty sure I heard a chorus of angels singing at that moment.

I've written many times about the challenges of trying to get good pictures of three children together whose age differences mean drastic differences in height as well as the ability to cooperate. Getting all three to look at the camera and smile at the same time is near impossible, especially when you have one who loves to talk, another who likes to make silly faces, and a third who just wants to pick up rocks, or run away, or start an impromptu game of tag in an alleyway. But what I find when I scroll through the hundreds of pictures I've snapped is that the ones I favor most are not the ones that are perfectly posed. I love the candid shots that capture what happened in between the times of trying to get that "perfect shot." Hidden among the "in between shots" are the twinkling smiles, the familiar expressions, and the wonderful moments that, if you just keep clicking, you might be lucky enough to catch. 

xo

nessa dee