Photo Shoot

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a two year old? Back in the day when we used film*, this wasn't such a problem, because for all the two-year old knew, you were just looking at him through a box and flashing lights in his face. It didn't make much sense to him--"Geez, what is it with Mom and Dad? Every time they pull out that box, they flash lights in my face. I'm just minding my own business, figuring out this whole walking thing, and they try to sabotage me by blinding me. Weirdos."

But now, things are different. Now, a kid sees a camera and says, "Hey, it's that magic thing with buttons that makes fun pictures show up. Every time they flash that light, there's a cool picture of me in the box. I want to see!!!" So, there's your kid, doing something cute--painting themselves with lotion, licking ice cream off their plate, playing with your sunglasses, sitting at the computer typing away like a grown-up--and you pull out your camera. You know you have to be sneaky, because if they see the camera too soon, they will run towards you to see the picture, which of course doesn't get taken because they moved too soon. You aim, you focus, the pre-flash goes off, and ... "See! See!" You have just taken a beautiful picture of a blurred toddler coming to examine your work.

I recently got some pictures printed and decided to give some of them to my sister, since they were of her kids. As I was flipping through, pulling out the ones that weren't of her family, I had to laugh, because I had several sequences of pictures that went like this: Picture 1--two year-old holding still for the picture; Picture 2: half of two year-old in shot, as he runs towards the camera to see the picture.

But it's not just two-year olds that love to see the picture. My niece, who is 4, and even my 6 year-old nephew (and sometimes the 9 year-old!!!) love to pose for pictures so they can see them. But at least they hold still long enough for you to take the picture.

The kids really liked the printed pictures. Especially the 2-year old. I gave him a picture of himself, and he was enthralled. I don't know if he'd ever seen a printed picture of himself. Viva Old School.


*Film: brown, sensitive to light,had to be loaded into the camera, only allowed 24-36 pictures per roll. You couldn't see the picture until it was developed, and the film came back to you as negatives, from which more pictures could be printed. Familiarity with this method of taking pictures is a great way of determining whether you were born before 2000.