Photo Shoot

This past weekend we headed to the Minnesota Arboretum to try my hand at taking family pictures. I think it went fairly well; I still have many things to learn about taking pictures, but each time gets better. I remembered my tripod and even brought a comb to fix hair. The comb was never used, but the tripod worked great!

There were several visitors and I'm sure they got a good chuckle out of watching this whole escapade. Here's how most shots worked: I advised everyone where/how to stand. Then I told them where to leave room for me. I focused and hit the picture button that set the camera for taking a picture in 10 seconds. That may seem like a long time, but when you have to run 20 feet (barefooted!) it gets a little crazy. Then after running I wasn't supposed to look haggard or have my hair out of place - oh yeah, and smile. This produced a great deal of work on my part - and a little sweat. At one point I set up the shot and took off running only to have a car drive by. The passenger leaned out the window and offered to take the shot. Being "Minnesota Nice" I didn't want to be rude and ignore her, so I kept jogging and tried to answer over my shoulder that we were good. You would think this routine would have made my kids laugh and produce these fantastic smiles. Nope. They are used to their mom being just this weird.

So, here's some pictures from our time at the Arboretum. You can double-click on the slideshow to see it bigger. Sorry for the last few with just us and the kids separately. The file size was too small to produce good pics and I'm too exhausted trying to figure out how to get this slideshow done. I guess I better add "computer work" to my list of how to make a better picture.