Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Almost all visuals

Tonight is a new episode of LOST and it is coming on in a few minutes . . . plus I don't have any stirring words tonight.

But fortune favored me this afternoon, awarding me with great photos to present to you.

Before I get to that, however, I will present some more artwork. (If you detest my artwork posts, jump ship now. Try again tomorrow and maybe I'll have something new.)

This is the drawing that Sarah brought home from Young Rembrandts last week. If you are familiar with most of the Young Rembrandt artwork I have presented in the past, you might be thinking that this one is less detailed than the one's assigned in the past. The reason for this is because this was the week that Sarah was complaining of ear pain. She started working on this drawing the day before I took her to the doctor and discovered that she was battling a bad ear infection and ruptured ear drum. (So, while others might analyze this drawing and be impressed with the excellently drawn mouse portrait, I'll always think about how I was a delinquent parent that allowed my child to suffer (and not for her art either).

I am including this drawing, but it's not one of Sarah's. I drew this picture about a year ago after taking the kids on a walk through the neighborhood that ended at the Reservoir. (I think this was a holiday, or maybe a Saturday that Lynda had to work. In any case, it was just the kids and me.) You can see the stroller that I pushed Grace in, along with Sarah over by the water's edge. There were some scrubby, twiggy trees along the bank as well. And, there were ducks.

Now, onto the photos.

A few weeks ago the daycare had their spring photos. We got the girls all dressed up in their new Easter dresses and hoped they would keep them clean enough before the pictures were taken.

Lynda's parents were leaving from their visit that day and maybe that change was the root of the attitude, but Grace was really argumentative that morning.


Sarah's pictures turned out really well, but she usually takes pretty good photos in these settings. This one is, however, pretty exceptional. I really like it.

When we get daycare photos, we always get three packages. One set of individual photos for each girl and one set of photos with both girls together. When we got to the daycare that morning, after Grace had thrown about three separate fits at home and in the car on the way there, we saw that the photographer was already set up and taking some photos of other sibling pairs.

So, we got the girls in front of the lens just as soon as we dropped them off. But Grace was none too happy, so we wondered what the pictures would be like.

We found out today. Here I tell the story through a series of pictures that capture how I imagine the photo shoot went:

This one isn't bad certainly, but it is fairly obvious that Grace isn't in the best of moods. Sarah seems to be helping out, but Grace wants nothing to do with it as this point. But, I like this picture because it captures Grace's stubbornness and her will to do what she wants to do.

Photo #2 begins to show a thaw in Grace's demeanor. Her expression is not surly anymore and she is allowing the photographer to pose her. (Trust me that even an adult like me hates the silliness of photographer posing; I can't imagine that a two-year-old that is truly in a bad mood would allow such flim-flammery.) Anyway, there is progress here--and the picture is cute anyway.

Finally you are seeing a smile (even if it's only a small one) on Grace's face here. I don't like this picture that much because I don't particularly like the posture of Grace's pose. But in the sequence of the story that I am imagining, it is a necessary piece to show how the photographer worked some sort of magic.

It's magic you see, because the photographer took a little girl that was in a really, REALLY bad mood and somehow convinced her to produce the wonderful photo below.

THIS photo, I don't have to tell you is a GREAT photo. I will tell you that this may be the best photo that Grace has ever taken. It's excellent. And I really don't need to add anything more.

2 comments:

lulu said...

That IS awesome. So is Sarah's. What cuties in their little polka dots!

We ordered Stevie's school pics, even though he has the fakiest smile, like, EVER--it's one of those closed-mouth, wince-y looking things as if he's whinily saying "Fine, I'll smile for this stupid, stupid picture." To make it even better, his mouth was all chapped because he doesn't just lick his lips all the time, he licks a 1" perimeter around his lips, too. AND they had let his hair "go" and let him untuck his IRONED shirt!!!

So I am jealous. Plus, Stevie never wears polka dots.

Sven Golly said...

Great photos. My little girl called me at my desk today, and tomorrow I will see her when she comes home for spring break to write a paper on Paul Klee and another one on Soren Kierkegaard. So be careful, polka dots can lead to abstract expressionism and existential angst!