On Studio Photography

I've been thinking about taking Lily in to get professional photos done.

Specifically, I've been thinking about not taking Lily in to get professional photos done.

I'm not a fan.  There is no way for studio photos to ever not look cheesy.  There is only a spiraling ladder of cheese, with JC Penney's grey-background-and-big-white-letters at the top, moving down toward Glamour Shots' soft, filtered lens; and ending down at Olan Mills' epic laser backdrop.

The only way I'll ever set foot in a portrait studio is to go in a completely opposite direction, such as a Tim and Eric-style family portrait with closed eyes, awkward grimaces, and bad holiday sweatervests.  Then we'll put it on a Christmas card and send it to our families.

Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer the candid shots of yesteryear.  Back when we didn't have the option of instantly deleting any imperfect photos.  Before people were carrying around pocket tripods and worrying about light levels and SLRs or whatever.  I love my family's crackly old photo albums.  The greenish shade of the 60s.  The brownish shade of the 70s.  The orangey shade of the 80s.  People caught mid-bite or mid-laugh or mid-speech.  The textured matte and rounded corners of old photos.  That smell, the smell of vinyl and extended family.