I’m well aware that the trend these days is to hire a photographer and get your child’s (or family’s) photos taken at the park while eating popsicles, cuddling on a blanket, or inside some sort of old building with exposed brick. I also know that you get bonus points for chalkboard usage or tall prairie grass.
And I absolutely love those trendy pictures, but I’m not at the point in my life where I can afford to get them taken every 3 months like many young families with a vast online presence. Nor do I want to harass my friends with photography talent to constantly take pictures of my family for free (I am fine with very occasional begging and harassment though…as my friend Katy will certainly experience sometime in the future).
But I did desire a nice current picture of Caroline to frame for the grandparents for Christmas (and for ourselves), so I decided on a whim to make an appointment at Wal-Mart’s photo center and see what happened. My hope: to get one very simple photo of Caroline looking vaguely happy that would be frame worthy (and yes my plan was to scan it in and make a bunch of copies for the grandparents).
The experience vastly exceeded my low expectations, and deciding on one picture ended up being impossible. Caroline looked so flippin adorable in so many of them. I limited myself to getting 3 pictures in addition to the $7.99 for oodles of prints photo package coupon I had…so I ended up with four great pictures of my gal (and lots of prints ended up being a good thing, because I figured out that my scanner + Walgreens photo printing looks much crummier than I had hoped…if anyone has a suggestion about where to get nicer looking prints- let me know!). The pics were a fun little Christmas surprise for Grandma, Grandpa, Nana & Papa, and they now have photos for their house plus each of their desks at work.
Yes…I’m giving Wal-Mart photo studio a glowing recommendation. I must insist though that if you choose to follow in my photo foot steps and make an appointment…please follow the following guidelines (for the sake of society as a whole).
1) Stick with a black or white background. As tempting as the American Flag, fall barn, moon/wind combo, or country fence backgrounds are…please resist your urges to go this direction.
2) Writing on your photo…just say no. Do not have your kids name written in script across the bottom right hand corner. Please. Also, my photographer had put something along the lines of “Forever full of happiness” on one photo. Although I wanted to laugh, I was able to keep a straight face and politely decline. I hope you choose to do the same.
3) Bring your own props in case they might be needed. The prop options I was given were a blue glittery teddy bear and a paper Dora the explorer coloring book. In case your kiddo needs the distraction of something in their hands, it would be MUCH preferred to bring something that is remotely cute to have in your photo.
4) My photographer also suggested I buy an add on pink foggy border around one of the pictures. I do not believe in borders (except around countries for the sake of National Security).
5) Please order plain and simple prints rather than 11×13 collages that include multiple photos and the option of clip art.
As long as you follow those five rules, I give you permission and encouragement to make an appointment. Now…it’s finally time for you to see Caroline’s fancy schmancy photo shoot pics.
Can you believe she did so well? Isn’t she the cutest little girl in the world? Don’t you wish you could wear bubble skirts and have your legs look so hot?
TD
P.S. In case you hadn’t heard, I’m pregnant again. Yay! I will post about this soon I’m sure…but I felt this Wal-Mart photo post was more urgent.
P.P.S. Today’s Raincloud- I have been without a car for two days because Judd’s car is in the shop. I’ve had enough post vacation clean up/laundry that it has been an OK time to be stuck at home, but I’m getting a little stir crazy at this point. Today’s Sunshine- My friend Katie took Caroline & I to get a latte this morning when it turned out the car wasn’t ready to be picked up. This latte was enough to make me feel like a functional human today.
