Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a photographer at
work. The photo reminded me of a galley proof from a newspaper dated February
1983. We had the proof framed and displayed in our home for a number of years.
Why? Because my daughter and I were featured. Oh, the article was not ABOUT us.
It was about a local children’s photographer.
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| Jordan was 21 months; I was about 2 weeks away from delivering Baby #2. |
I was a proud momma and I wanted professional photos, but
in 1983, there were not many photographers to choose from, affordable ones,
that is, unless I wanted to use the silly backdrops available at J. C. Penney
or Sears. When a new studio opened nearby, I quickly checked it out. The
photographer was just starting out and his prices were more like what I had in mind.
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| Jordan 1983 - from the free shoot |
After that we scheduled annual pictures of the girls.
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| Jordan and Zoe 1983 |
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| Zoe and Jordan 1984 |
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| Jordan and Zoe 1985 |
Until he quit the business. What’s a mother to do?
Word spread quickly among my mom-friends about a great
photographer who came to the house. What a concept – just like those itinerant
photographers of the past.
My sister and I thought a picture of the grandkids
together would make a nice Christmas present for our parents. So we called the
photographer who had won the hearts of so many and set a date. He arrived right
on time. This is going to be fun, I thought. The living room was nice and
clean. Jordan and Zoe looked darling in their new velvet Christmas dresses my
mother had made them. Joel was precious in a very proper English-style shorts
and blouse with a French hand-sewn collar.
Then WHEW what a night we had! First of all, the
photographer made fun of how my sister dressed her baby boy. He thought she was
turning him into a sissy. But as she pointed out, he has a lifetime to dress
like an old man.
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| Zoe, Joel, Jordan 1987 |
And then the worst (although we can’t stop laughing about
it now): the photographer picked Joel up to bounce him around a bit to “loosen
him up.” Now picture this: he then tossed Joel playfully into the air and WHOOPS BAM BOOM - oops sorry - accidentally DROPPED him on the floor!
I wish we had a photo of that guy.
Say CHEESE. Say WHISKEY. Say, how about visiting my
friends at Sepia Saturday for more stories of photos and photographers!
Wendy
© 2017, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
How warped my mind was. I saw the title and thought it was related to gun shooting. Photography is better to shoot kids indeed! Photographer coming to the home reminded me of Baby's Day Out movie from years ago :)
ReplyDeleteGreat stories!
betty
That's how warped I AM - I laughed at the title when I thought of it because I'm sick that way, but what the heck, I went with it anyway.
DeleteYes, I wondered about the title at first - the photographer who came to your house was so rude!
ReplyDeleteWasn't he though? Risky to be rude when you want people to give you money, but we did anyway!
DeleteOh My!!! the pictures are priceless and adorable. The story and the history (newspaper) definitely is one for your family album. I don't know which is more bizarre...Man Shoots Kids or Man Drops Kid! LOL!
ReplyDeleteSue at CollectInTexas Gal
I wonder if the photographer went home and told his wife, "You won't believe what I did tonight! I actually dropped a kid."
DeleteThe photo turned out so perfectly....it's interesting to hear the not-so-perfect
ReplyDeleteback story. I love the collar, but now in these gender bending times I wonder if the
photographer would dare make such a remark. Actually I wonder if between the remark and the photographer dropping him on the floor, how Joel feels about having his picture taken. Your girls were so adorable.
The pressure was on - the photos had to be great after that beginning. And they were. My sister and I both bought several different poses.
DeleteThat was certainly an arresting title to capture our interest and your family photographs are so adorable. Did the photographer who dropped Joel complete taking the photographs or did you boot him out of the house?
ReplyDeleteThe last photo is one he took. His pictures were actually very good, and I bought many of several different poses. Today I probably would have invited him to leave, but at the time we were probably in shock.
DeleteWonderful stories and photos. When I was age two I fell off our sofa onto a hard floor. Despite my wailing and tears, my father grabbed his camera and took photos of me from floor level. All I remember now are the prints.
ReplyDeleteFunny - since the prompt picture is about photography I never thought anything about that headline being other than a photographer taking photos of kids. Until our kids all entered school and from then on had portraits taken at school every fall, I took my preschool kidlets to wherever a photographer was setting up shop whether it be at J.C. Penny's or the local pharmacy, and was never disappointed with the results. I must have lucked out with talented photographers despite the location and thank goodness because it was all we could afford at the time.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got some good photos despite the guy being unpleasant. My daughter recently took her little one along to a studio for a 'free' photoshoot, and guess who went along for the ride and got sucked into buying a couple of very cute but extortionately priced photos? The photograher wasn't great but my younger granddaughter is a very happy smiley baby so she didn't have to try too hard.
ReplyDeleteOh how unprofessional of him.I have sympathy with photographers endlessly shooting kids though. I’m sure you had the same experiences as teacher, when the school photographer appeared for his annual visit and we had to make the children look smart for the cameras.
ReplyDeleteI adore your annual pictures of your daughters. That was a good find, and you did him a great favor by helping him have more customers. Word of mouth is still an excellent resource for many kinds of services!
ReplyDeleteI love the description of the photography bouncing him up and down to loosen him up. You would get ten years inside for such conduct these days. A great description of photographers at work.
ReplyDeleteI thought you were going to say he bounced him up and down and was presented with projectile vomiting. Speaking of which, when my brother was a baby (I was 7) he spit up on my new nightgown and I immediately tossed him across the room. Thankfully, my mom was there to catch him.
ReplyDeleteterrific stories of your experiences with photographers of your children.
ReplyDelete