A Picture is Not Worth Feeling Left Behind (So Jump on the Bandwagon)

It's impossible to escape them.  They are everywhere.  

The pictures.  Engagement photos.  Wedding photos.  Pregnancy photos.  Baby photos.  "Look at how adorable my kids are" photos.  They swarm the internet, dominating Facebook and Instagram.

I'm not knocking these photos or the fact that people post them online.  I actually enjoy looking at these memories, even when it makes me feel sad.

But one day I was sitting on my couch, staring at the framed pictures on my entertainment center and I realized something - I didn't have any recent nice pictures of myself.

I have professional pictures of my family and my sister's family.  But all the pictures of me and my friends are from years ago and frankly, weren't the best pictures ever taken.  Most of them were taken on my digital camera, which wouldn't stand up to pictures snapped on most cell phones today.

And since I've never been engaged, married, or pregnant, I've never gotten nice pictures taken of myself.  It's just not really something that you do.  

But why not?

Why shouldn't I get some quality level photographs of myself and my friends?  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Now, I have a lot of issues surrounding my appearance.  It is very difficult for me to see myself as attractive (which is a post for another day).  I thought having some quality pictures of myself might help with that problem.

So, I decided to do a little photo shoot with some of my single friends.  I talked to my friend Chris, the remarkable photographer behind First Blush Photos (highly, highly recommend him if you need a photographer), got my friends on board, and we set a date!

Of course the forecast for the day we planned the shoot was  . . . . rain.  And we were doing the photos outside at a forest preserve.  But we dared the weather to ruin our plans and ventured out anyway.

What I love about Chris's work is that he really captures moments well.  The whole point of this excursion was just to have a fun experience together that we might never have if we waited until we got engaged.  The entire time we were constantly cracking each other up.  I mean seriously, I felt a little bad for Chris as he tried to get us to calm down long enough for him to take some pictures.  

This was pretty much my face for the entire shoot.

But that comes through in the pictures.  I love the moments that he captured.  I love how he got individual pictures of all four of us that brought out our best features.  I love the group photos that show us having a grand ol' time.  It was a great day, and now we have the fancy pictures to prove it.

I knew we'd need some props because we weren't going to know how to pose.  Super awkward.  Everyone made fun of me for bringing the books and they were convinced we looked like huge dorks.  Which we probably did.  But I actually thought these pictures turned out really well.

Very Jane Austenesque.  See - I'm totally brilliant.

I also brought my guitar and some fans.

Everyone's favorite prop was the parasol, and for good reason.  We had so much fun goofing around with that thing.  And it created some pretty awesome pictures.  At one point, some young ladies walked by, whispering loudly, "Oh, look at the models."

Our album will be dropping next month . . .

And the laughing continued.  Here Rachel and I were trying to take a serious picture, but Carly and Kristin were making faces at us.

Stop that this instant!

We finally managed to get one with straight faces.

Apparently Rachel had to switch fans in order to look serious. Or perhaps she threw the other one at our torturers.

Sort of.

But I think the laughing ones are better anyway!

Now I want to share some of the best individual pictures.

Kristin:

I feel like these photos show her many different sides.  And that last one - drop dead gorgeous!  Her hair is perfect and her face just looks beautifully peaceful.  Of course we were probably making faces at her in the other pictures, so it's amazing that she could pull the calm look off.  She really rocked the parasol.

Rachel:

Easily the most extroverted of all of us (and thus the best at posing), Rachel can look beautiful even when she forgets that she put her glasses on top of her head.  I mean, seriously, it's a great picture.  And she channels Anne of Green Gables very well, perched in the boat.

Carly:

My sister-in-law-once-removed, she just looks so gorgeous.  I really have no other word to describe it.  No wonder our nephew and nieces are so good looking!  She rocks the parasol AND the hat.  Adorable.

It was a little bit harder to pick pictures of myself, but I knew I would get in trouble if I didn't put some in.  So here you go.

​The rain held off for most of the shoot, but we did get some rainy pics in.  

I love this picture.  I think we were supposed to look scared.  Carly looks the most scared and I'm just trying to hold in the laugh.  Rachel looks like she is trying to win an Oscar, and Kristin's face is so hilarious, I can hardly stand it.

Can you tell that we had fun?  

​I highly recommend doing this with your single friends, or by yourself.  Become friends with a good photographer or even someone who is trying to improve their skills (you can be a free model).  Just make sure to have a good time and I guarantee you will enjoy the results.

There were so many good pictures, I couldn't put them all into this blog post.  But I'll leave you with just a few more . . .