On the Other Side

When Brad and I visited Utah we planned to have one of our favorite photographers do our family pictures. I was looking forward to the experience of seeing what it is like on the other side of the lens. However, due to a miscommunication we totally missed our own photoshoot. In one of the first emails I sent to our photographer, I had told her that we wanted to do a morning session. Four or five emails later we nailed down a time and a place. The photographer asked if we could meet at 5 or 5:30. Holy Cow! I am not a morning person, but I figured if the light was best at 5:00am, I would get up for it. (The sun comes up at 5:00 in the morning in Germany, so maybe it does in Utah too, right?) Well, I got up at 3:30 to get ready, and we were parked at a gas station at the mouth of American Fork canyon at 5:00am. By the way, it is pitch black that early in the morning. The light is not best then, it is non-existent. Obviously (as any sane person would have realized), our photographer was thinking 5:00pm, when the light in the canyon would have been just beautiful. Unfortunately, we were going to be in Logan that night, and so we had to cancel our session.

Lucky for us, my Mom is a great photographer, and she offered to take some pictures for us when we were up at the family cabin in Island Park together. We were having so much fun though, that we kept putting off our photoshoot until the morning we were about to leave. It was way too bright outside and Annika was terrible, but my Mom did a great job. I also realized how awkward it can feel to have your picture taken. It is not easy to look relaxed and natural when you are also trying to look your best. I have taken pictures of some hard kids before who are less than excited about being photographed, but Annika is by far the worst.  Maybe it is because she is around a camera so much, but the second I pull my camera out of the bag, she will furrow her eyebrows and look (or run) the other way. Trying to get her to even stay next to us while having our pictures taken was a nightmare. So, thanks Mom, for putting up with our awkwardness and for doing such a great job editing these pictures. I can’t wait to have them hanging on my wall!