Pumpkin and apple spice, vibrant pressed leaves, the crisp air of a late-September evening (at least here in the Northeast), the jack-’o-lanterns and cornucopias dominating the seasonal aisle at Target — these are all harbingers of autumn, signs that it’s time to kiss the summer goodbye and start planning for the cooler months ahead.

It’s also time for back-to-school photos and (shudder) time to enter the planning stages for holiday pictures and greeting cards. My two children were born in August and September, so I’ve got to set up birthday portraits as well, or I’ll never hear the end of it from my mother.

For the past three years, I’ve been too tired/lazy/unmotivated/frazzled/cheap/add-your-own-”bad-mother”-adjective-here to hunker down and do the research to select a professional photographer who could adequately capture the essence that defines each of my kids. Instead, I’ve done what many others have done in similar moments of desperation: I’ve gone to the in-house studio of a well-known national baby retailer.

Now, this isn’t to say said retailer has done a bad job. I have some really cute images of my son sitting in front of a faux lighthouse, my daughter draped in pearls. And, amazingly enough, they’re smiling (and sitting!) in all the photos. Plus, the prices have been fairly reasonable.

But as the years have ticked by, a nagging feeling has started to set in. I’ve noticed that the lighting in these shots leaves much to be desired, with harsh shadows evident throughout. I’ve also started to feel cramped by the images I’m able to order: While the photo session itself is free, you’re only allowed to pick a few poses to create prints from, and the limited packages makes it nearly impossible for me to put together a customized a la carte package I’ve been happy with.

And while the smiles are precious, every pose and picture angle is pretty much exactly the same in all the images. There’s not much originality and, frankly, not much personality. Plus, the interaction between the store photographers and my kids is lacking — while the staff certainly tries hard, they’ve usually been young employees with little to no photography experience trying to rush through the shoot to accommodate the growing line of cranky people at the studio. They’re usually forced to resort to chasing my son and daughter around the studio with a feather duster to try to eke out one half-smile. If that one trick doesn’t bring the desired results, they usually look to ME to evoke the perfect expression (and after a full day of spilled goldfish, bedroom brawls, and preschool attitude, I’m usually feeling less than inspired).

In other words, all this time I’ve settled for a hodgepodge of mediocre imagery. So I’ve started to do the research to track down a pro in my area. I know I’ll have to pony up a little more dough this time around (hmmm…gas in the tank, or an extra few sets of 5×7s for the grandparents?), but from interviewing many child and family portrait photographers, I know that in return I’ll likely get a more-relaxed session that won’t feel rushed; lighting that adequately illuminates my little angels; creative closeups and precious poses; and a pro who’s been around the kiddie block and knows how to appeal to and calm my kids down (as well as how to calm ME down).

That way, when my two tax deductions head off to college in a decade and a half, and I’m wallowing in my empty nest, trolling through the family albums and scrapbooks, I’ll be able to relive these fleeting days through every mischievous expression and missing-tooth grin that only a professional could truly capture. And I’ll know it was worth it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Jennifer Gidman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.