Lessons Learned

Subtitle: Does This Shirt Make My Face Look Fat?

I always take the kids to JC Penney Portrait Studious for their milestone pictures -- not because I love their pictures, but because I love their prices.  I usually spend less than $25 for the 3 required 8x10's (our house and both Grandma's houses) and a small assortment of 5x7s or wallets just because.

So far, I've had pretty good luck.  But let's face the facts:

- Dylan's overall redness makes him hard to photograph
- Dylan's even-tempered personality makes it hard to get him to smile
- Dylan's eczema and tendency to get flushed when warm often make his face extra red

So I should have known we were bound to get some less-than-great pics eventually.  All of the above - coupled with a less-than-enthusiastic photographer - made for some pretty awful 9 month pictures.  So awful they never made the grandmother's walls or even the blog.  So awful that anti-confrontational little me even sent an emailed complaint.  (I promise, this is a big deal in my world.) 

JC Penney handled my complaint like a champ and sent me a voucher for three free sheets of photos.

So I tried to learn my lessons well and prepare better for Dylan's one year pictures

- Carefully selected clothes to bring out blue eyes and red hair - check
- Brown background to minimize overall facial redness - check
- Air conditioner blowing full blast the entire ride there - check
- Comfy clothes and teddy bear to help Dylan feel happy and comfortable - check
- Older brothers with instructions to get Dylan as crazy as possible - check
- Change of clothes to try to capture a more formal picture - check
- Vouchers for free portraits PLUS a note in my customer file that I had once complained - check

The only thing that missed my radar this time was that button-up shirts apparently make Dylan's face look really fat.  But, like Kirk pointed out, it only looks fat because it is fat, and now we have the pictures to remember it by!

It turns out all my preparation really paid off, because the session was great!  I ended up spending $50 this time because there were too many pictures I just couldn't live without.  See for yourself...