The Outtakes.

Something I am learning more and more about as I play with photography, is sometimes the "outtakes", the pictures that I usually think are pointless, end up being the best.

Sure you may not frame them or use them in a future wedding montage {actually, some people might!} but they are the ones that make you laugh the most. They bring out the honesty and the true personality of the person. In most cases, kids look their most authentic selves in those goofy pictures that we erase too quickly off the camera.

Someone once made a comment to me that I am so lucky to have kids who love the camera. After all, all the pictures I post of them and frame in our home, are gorgeous pictures of the kids in perfect lighting, perfect smiles and perfect composition. But boy do I have you all fooled!! Like any 4 and 2 year olds, my kids would much rather twirl, run, make silly faces and ignore the camera altogether. But there are those rare moments when I see their little faces soften and hold still just long enough to snap a picture. And trust me, my shutter speed is fast. It has to be.

And especially when we have photographers take pictures of our family, the kids morph into these little tasmanian devils that usually go out of their way to make the poor photographers job especially hard!

So here are a few "outtakes" that I have found that just crack me up:

Ah yes- classic Bella.

I'm trying to smile, John is trying to keep Ty from running, and Bella has decided to flash the camera. Perfect family portrait.

Here's another classic: Trying to get the cousins to pose for a picture. Lexi is bawling and wants nothing to do with it, Nolan is off in his own world smiling, and Marley and Bella can't stop looking at each other and talking.

And yet another way to show the grown-ups that you are done with pictures : pick your nose with both fingers.

And this is what I call "The Over-Smile"

....because sometimes a simple smile just isn't enough.

And this picture is just plain hilarious.

Judging by the look on Tyler's face, he is totally embarrassed by his sisters' hair.

You see?

Family-of-perfect-pictures we are not.

But we sure do have a ton of good embarrassing pictures to use during their teenage years!

You just won't see any of these framed as 8x10's :-)