So we still hadn't got around to doing our photo for 2010 and the year is running out. But then Grant and I were going through our New Zealand immigration package and one of the things they ask for is proof that our relationship is a stable and committed one and has been for at least the last 12 months. Proof includes things like joint bank accounts and family photos.
"I'll just print up a sheet of family photos going back the last four years or so," I chirped. "But, alas, there's no current photo from this year."
"We'll take one as soon as the boys get home from school!" said Grant.
And that is how you get your partner on board for family photographs. Just emigrate. Easy!
Here's the setup, for those who are interested: camera (with timer) on tripod, strobe light with large softbox just to the side of the camera, slave clipped to mantle and bounced off mirror, and I propped my reflector between the couch and lamp.
Sadly, the fact that Grant looks like he's shorter than I in the photo began to bug me. Here's another look:
I guess that's what happens when you have a death grip on the offspring - he must have been a bit hunched down. I debated doing a re-shoot (he said we should) but there was so much hassle involved that I didn't really want to do it - getting my equipment out of storage in the cellar, constructing my softbox, putting up the stand and light and attaching softbox, getting the tripod out, testing for settings with my light meter, setting white balance ... not to mention wrangling the kids and getting them to cooperate.
I phoned my cousin Di and she said she wouldn't have said anything but that it was the first thing she'd noticed about the photo, which was enough to give me the impetus to reshoot. This time we decided to sit on the floor in our usual pose, in a room on the top floor that was relatively empty, and this was the result:
A tighter crop:
We had a mirror leaning against the tripod so we could check out the look and adjust ourselves before the photo took. I had to lean over so I didn't look taller than Grant - what is up with that?! He is 3 inches taller than I am! At one point he tried to say that I am taller than he is when sitting because I've gained weight ...
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OH NO HE DI'IN'T!
Oh yes he did! When faced with my death ray glare he tried to explain that I am basically sitting on a cushion now!
OH NO HE DI'IN'T!! Has the man no sense of self-preservation??
Lucky for him, I have a sense of humour and thought it was hilarious, plus I know he did not mean it mean-spiritedly at all. I know I have gained weight, I can't argue with that! My weight making me taller when I sit?? Well, who knows. Stranger things have happened. And my rear is something to behold nowadays.
I did tell him, "You know I'm going to blog that, right?" and he looked like a deer in the headlights, ha ha!
And just for fun:
