The Photo Session

Why am I surprised when things go better than expected? I dont consider myself a pessimist? Yet when I made the appointment for the boys to have spring photos...my thoughts were along the lines of: I'll just dress them in their Easter outfits and see what happens. I had no expectations- really. It was a difficult decision to even go somewhere for portraits- I usually take all their photos. But my limited amount of backgrounds didnt leave me with anything that I wanted. And I havent been able to photograph CJ decently since he discovered the preview screen on the back of the camera. Now he's running to look at it before I've even snapped the photo.
Yesterday evening I picked up WC and let him in on the plans for the next morning. Unfortunately he was game for photos' (as usual) but he didnt want CJ to go along because he would cry. We had a really bad experience with Christmas photo's that I tried to do on location at Cheekwood. It didnt go well. I explained to him that I wouldnt be the photographer in this case- I was paying someone else (much to my hesitation). WC wasnt optimistic either.
This morning I started him off with his favorite breakfast of pop tarts. I added in a dose of two allergy meds and some ibuprofen for those molars. We dressed and made it out of the house with out the pacifier (I had one in my pocket just in case).
I had made the earliest appointment possible- 9 am & we were the first customers through the door. The rooms still silent, which is ideal for CJ. So he wandered around the studio for a few minutes while the photographer and WC talked. Initially she tried to sit CJ next to WC on the wall and he was very hesitant- didnt want to leave my side. I hugged him and assured him that mommy wasnt going anywhere. When she quit trying to get him in a location and just decided to get some shots of WC by himself...then there wandered CJ in and climbed up on the wall. Being a good photographer she went with it and began snapping away. That's important, especially when photographing kids- the ability to just go with it. At one point she tried using a ball to entice CJ to smile and play. She believed that she could get him to throw the ball to her. But that's not him. He held onto that thing and the ball made it into a few shots as well. Overall, it was a positive experience. The photographer was extremely patient but fast and took 73 shots in less than probably a 30-40 min session. I had difficulty narrowing down what to purchase. Ended up with way too many pics! And a cd of all the shots. It will be a while before I have another photographer take their pics again. But for today, I'm glad that I did.