A while back, I purchased a $16 Groupon for a package at that photo place that was very popular about a decade ago and was in every mall, but now there's only one in our whole metropolitan area. I'll call them Foto Folks. It had been a long time since we had a family picture taken, so I figured this would force me to get it done, without costing an arm and a leg. Our appointment was last night.
I went to a lot of trouble to figure out what we were going to wear. I looked at photographer websites that had What to Wear ideas. There's obviously some place that supplies these images to photographers, because a lot of them had the same Gap/Old Navy/Piper Lime montages (hmm, maybe the Gap parent company supplies them).
The images were fresh, modern, cool, coordinating without being matchy-matchy. I wouldn't characterize my family as being any of those, but that's what I wanted our photo to look like. We've done the khaki and white, and the black and jeans. I decided on blues for the guys and pinks for us girls.
We had most of the necessary pieces, but for the rest I went to a lot of stores: thrift stores, Target, Kohls, shoe stores, etc. I actually didn't spend too much money, as I found two shirts at the thrift store, and one on clearance at Kohls, and Pinkerbelle's cute sandals were cheap at Kmart.
Our photo session was about what I expected...fairly unimaginative, which is kind of funny because the reason this place was so popular when it came out was that it was so fun and different. My package was for one pose only; of course, I could have purchased more but none were so great that I even wanted to.
In the end, we chose the photo in which everyone's facial expression was good. The pose itself could have been better, and you can't even get the full effect of all my careful clothing coordination.
It's not too bad, though. I definitely got my $16's worth.
When's the last time you had a family photo taken? How did it turn out?
8 comments:
the last time I got family pics (professional) my daughter was in 1st grade. Now she is going into 5th grade. I do actually have an appointment with a local photographer who a lot of my friends have used for October. She is usually pretty expensive, but she has a mini session option which promises at least 8-10 good images. I don't need to pay a fortune for 80 great shots.
Thanks for the ideas for clothing, I want something colorful and not matchy, but that look good together.
Never. That's when we've had a family photo done. Can you believe that?
I used to have the boys' photos made regularly, but I haven't even done that in years and years. We did have a friend snap a photo of all five of us at Preston's graduation, but alas! He didn't have the camera focused.
Maybe one of these days I'll be able to lure my college boys back home with the promise of a steak dinner and a coconut pie, then we can have a family photo made!
Haha! With 4 weddings in my immediate family in the last 3 1/2 years, we've taken TONS of family shots, typical wedding ones you know. :-) I love your pic though, looks like everyone is happy & the clothes are defintely cute :-)
We did some at Easter, with my own camera and tripod and I ended up looking like a fat old lady - but then, I am hypercritical of myself in photos!! Your post reminds me of how I used to be when the kids were younger. I wanted us to look cohesive and match - it makes the photos look nicer and like we took some trouble. As the years go by, I look at those pics with kinder eyes and realize we really all looked happy and we were together...and they are priceless to me, tho I probably didn't spend much more than you did, cause I was always using a coupon and just getting the bare essential package! Nice pic, by the way!
First of all, I think the picture is very nice. Everyone is indeed smiling, and that is a PLUS! Oh, and "Foto Folks". Funny!
You make your way to NY and we will get those family pics done and I will do them BIG. K?! ;) Anytime. Although I don't recommend the dead middle of winter. Just sayin'.
xo*tricia
p.s. the What to Wear boards (at least any that I know of) are not sponsored by a particular brand, but Gap, Old Navy, etc. have images that are easy to pull from their site to mix and match on a board. That's one reason they are used so often. Also, Gap, Old Navy, etc. are pretty common stores across the U.S. That's another reason so many photogs use them.
I got the same deal & was really disappointed in the poses they did for my little guy. With that said I brought my dad along who ended up spending $112.00 for photos. I'm happy but I prefer other places.
We have ours done each year during
Thanksgiving break. It is not too too busy but we get our pics the same day and it doesn't cost and arm and a leg.
If you have a Portrait Innovations in your area try them. They have a great pkg for $10.00.
melinda
Hey, I love the picture and we better get one for Christmas! We just had our family pictures done before you all came. I think they turned out ok, but still haven't had time to really study them and see who's eyes are open/closed etc. We have a niece that does photography up north who we wish could have done our pictures. Check out her website "Shannon Vine Photography...you'll have to Google it cause I can't do a link... if you go under recent posts you can see Sarah and Eric's pictures!xo
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