For your entertainment I would like to post a few out-takes from our photo session that was supposed to culminate in our annual Chinese New Year greeting card. It is really nice not having to worry about getting a “Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!” card in December. We always get a few weeks more to putter around, procrastinate, postpone the stress and frenzy of digging out addresses and deciding who gets on “the list”, ha. (I know, you want to stab me, or at least slap me.)
So R had the brilliant idea to corral the girls into the Radio Flyer wagon so Lyra-Lightning-feet will not run off and stuff her cheeks with pebbles/grass/weed/dirt/sticks or whatevers. I guess the idea sort of work… here are a few of the out-takes:
Lyra the prisoner tries to escape while her sister tries to prevent it.
And since trying to climb out of the wagon did not work, Lyra tried to eat her way out of the wagon…
And when eating the wagon did not work either, she resorted to attacking her sister, demanding that she be let out, or else!!
::
At some point, inevitably, I started to think of my life as an out-take, myself as an out-take, the stillbirth as an out-take. They were just all wrong, but not funny or silly. They just should not have happened.
So someone asked me recently, “I have yet to see a decent picture of you?”
Hmph.
The thing is, there are no pictures of me, let alone decent. I just have not enjoyed having my pictures taken. I also do not have a good photographer. I mean, R is a good photographer, but he is very technically driven. He is all about the aperture and shutter speed and wavelength and all that crap. When I asked him about the photo session he said betw 4 to 415 pm because that’s when the light was going to be the best. Now, I am all about the framing and mood and spontaneity. I don’t care if not everyone is looking straight at the camera and smiling. So anyways, if he takes a picture of me, I will be smiling but by the time he has all the settings adjusted to his satisfaction, the smile has evaporated. So I don’t have to smile either. But then I will look haggard/old/wicked and I have a double chin, yuck.
But despair not, my friends, one day you will see me. I am calling about the Botox and the new miracle diet and one day I will be presentable. In the meantime, use your imagination. (Just kidding!)
I hope the out-takes bring you some smiles.
Your girls are so beautiful! I forgot what year this Chinese New Year is? I think it’s the year of the tiger, the year I was born in, and *hopefully* when my little one will be born in.
So sweet! They did make me smile, thank you.
x
Don’t believe a word Janis says about how she looks. I see her all the time, and she is beautiful. And her smile, when she gives it, is genuine, and kind, and filled with everything that is good and true.
aww! you three girls are so beautiful!
the ‘bad’ photos are pretty darn good.
i don’t know that editing out the bad stuff in life would actually be any better. I wouldn’t want to forget Serenity. A redo would be nice, but that only happens in elementary gym class.
The “outtake” photos I have taken of my family have become encapsulations of some of my most precious memories of them. I remember my first daughter tantruming at 18 months old, my younger girl screaming and fighting her car seat at about 7 months… I snapped quick photos each time, making a conscious choice to laugh rather than go crazy. I likewise enjoy these priceless-beyond-measure “bad” pictures of your girls. (Speaking of bad photos – I know you are a beautiful person, inside and out, regardless of any reticence you might feel toward photography.)
You all are so kind….
Ya Chun, I think I did not express it well, but I did not mean to edit out the “bad stuff”. I think in the end Ferdinand’s death may prove essential to my development. I do accept it, but was trying to express my regrets that things like that need to happen. I hope this makes sense.
And yes, the coming year is that of the Tiger!
They DID make me chuckle!! I hope you managed to get a useable shot for your card, but keep the outtakes — they always wind up being the most memorable ones!
They are PURE JOY!!!
And hey, I have a lovely photo of you with me. Really, you glow.
xoxo
Your girls are so beautiful Janis. Such expressive faces.
I’m sure there are many lovely photographs of you, I just feel it in my bones!
I also have to tell you that the person who advised you to stick to prose was, in my humble opinion, wrong. I loved your poem. x
Your girls are beautiful Janis! If only their brother could be in the photos as well. xoxo
Gorgeous children, Janis!
OK, those pictures made me laugh Janis!! Thanks, I needed that, love the one of Lyra eating her way out.
What great, life filled shots! I too remain absent form many, many photos. It was only this year that I thought, I need to be a part of the memories too. Not for me, but for them. So I am trying to make myself jump in to the whole process. I don’t always like what I see, but I doubt I will ever regret being in the pix as opposed to surely regretting NOT being in them.
xxoo