It Was a "Grand" Time!

I have always appreciated professional photographers. When I started my first reporting job at The Hutchinson News, I often had to shoot my own photos. (I was a Focus reporter, a chronicler of "soft news." The photographers were going to important things like fires, you know.)

The editors would send a News-owned camera along with me, and I'd try to juggle the camera while furiously writing notes. It was a treat when they sent a "real" photographer to do the job.

This Grandma tried her own little mini photo session Sunday after church. I take photos all the time. I rarely leave the house without my camera. But trying to photograph a 2 1/2 year old and her 1-month-old sister is best left to the professionals.

There's the cheesy grin from Kinley while Brooke screams.

 

(I won't show you the whole series, but suffice it to say there are many, many variations: Brooke looks angelic, while Kinley looks pained. Kinley has the sweetest smile, and Brooke is crying. You get the idea.)

We also tried a few photos with their whole family. They weren't bad. But for a really good photo, I probably need to invest in Photoshop so I can superimpose an image from one frame into another so that everyone is looking his/her best. (I don't really know whether you can do that with Photoshop, but a gal can dream, right?! Of course, I'd have to figure out how to actually use all the features of Photoshop, and that's another dilemma.)

The wind and fly-away hair interfered with the photos of Kinley giving Brooke kisses (though it's kind of sweet anyway).

Kinley was much happier running and playing than posing for photos.

(Randy & I loved watching her run. It reminds us of her Mommy.)

We took a time out from photos for swinging while Brooke ate. It's the same swing where her Mommy and Uncle Brent spent hours and hours swinging from a big old elm tree. There were lots of real smiles there.

Then, I tried the photographer thing again.

"Try" is the operative word.

I also took a bunch of photos in the early morning, when it was just Brooke and me before everyone else was up.

 

Well, her eyes are open.

Between taking loads of fertilizer and lunches to the field yesterday, I sorted through the 124 photos from the weekend. And then, I got Jill's link to Brooke's newborn professional photos last evening.

Photo by Terra Herring Photography, Ozawkie, KS

Oh, well! I am thankful for photographers like Terra. I am the first to admit I'm not a professional photographer. But I'm a professional Grandma ... and proud of it.

***

Here's Brooke's first "month" photo that Jill took and posted on her Facebook page October 4. I loved watching Kinley change through her first year and her series of photos each month. I look forward to the same with Brooke. It's one of those things that makes me a professional Grandma. So does asking, "Where are that poor girl's socks?!"