So I wanted to take Abigail's two-year-old pictures today.  I had grand plans, wonderfully grand plans.  I wanted to put her in her birthday outfit that I made her and a pretty little red tutu and take her down to the Nature Trail at the beach.  In my mind, I could just see the adorable pictures, already matted and printed and hanging on the wall.  Well, it didn't happen.  You know what they say about the best laid plans?  Well, I know for a fact that whoever said that had a toddler.  Because, here's what happened when we got to the beach.  Abigail refused to put on the tutu.  Not just like kind of refused either.  Like threw herself on the ground screaming refused.  And, she also refused to get far enough away from me for me to actually take a picture of her.  I would have needed a fisheye lens to get her in the shot...I don't have a fisheye lens and even if I did, I'm not sure that I'd want to use it for 2-year-old portraits...it's a cool effect, as you can see here but not really what I was going for.  Okay, I'm getting off track.  So, in addition to Abigail's willfullness, the light was just completely wrong this morning.  I know that early morning and late afternoon light are best, but I was hoping I could fool the laws of photography and get a few good shots while Gracie was at school.  The final results were that I only got one shot that I was even somewhat happy with from the whole shoot and that happened as Abigail waded out into the sound.  (I got this shot and then had to chase after her into the water with my tennis shoes and socks on to keep her from swimming across the Intracoastal Waterway.)  Uggghhh!!!



So, I decided to come home and regroup.  I thought I'd set up my backdrop stand (that's still in its box from when I bought it in May - I know, I know, but I've been busy).  I bribed Abigail with a cupcake from yesterday's birthday party, but the bribe only went so far.  I thought I could get her to sit in front of the background and change into at least the birthday outfit (which was still a little damp from her earlier swim ) and possibly even the tutu.  Okay, I'm nothing if not optimistic!  She was having no part of that - she agreed to sit down but only if she could wear the too-small, backwards Teletubbie bathing suit that she'd found in the back of the closet.  I am a firm believer in the idea that clothes are somewhat immaterial in kids' pictures, particularly if they don't clash with something that someone else in the picture is wearing or with the background and as long as they don't overpower the child.  Since Abigail was the only one in the picture and the background is white and since such a tiny amount of the bathing suit was showing (since it was on backwards) that it could hardly be overpowering, I didn't fight her on her choice of wardrobe.  In the end, I'm much happier with these pictures.  They're not the ones I had planned , but I think they show more of my little imp's personality than the ones I wanted.  (And, I may try and con Steve into going back out with us to the beach early one evening later this week and see if I can get a few of the shots there that I was hoping for).






This is my favorite...