the other side of posed pictures of my boys

So yesterday I posted the boys yearly pictures…all cute and looking like they had a great time posing. Most photographers post client sessions full of seemingly perfect pictures. The reality is with any attempt at getting young kids (especially 3 young boys) to pose for pictures the photographer most likely gets more “outtakes” than “keepers”. Though I wanted some simple ‘everyone smiling at the camera’ pictures of my boys I still consider the “outtakes” to be keepers. Between every “keeper” there were 20 “outtakes”. I was constantly begging them to come back and smile normal. I was chasing them. They are great kids, but they are also very typical 3, 5, & 7 year old boys. Posing for pictures is not very high on their agenda of fun to be had. Every year I remember why I only attempt this once a year. Here is a healthy dose of reality.

My oldest always has ideas of his own regarding what I should photograph. I promised him at the end I would let him take control of my camera and pose me the way he wanted. Here is what he came up with…I love being a mom.