TBT: The REAL Story Behind Holiday Photos

I remember when I was a kid, my parents would line us up against a blue backdrop and take angelic photos of my brother, sister and me. We would have actual halos over our heads as if we were little angels.

Well, that’s what it LOOKED like, but there were lots of tears, screaming, and threats required to pull off those cute little photos.  Back in 1998, when we were taking photos of Nicole and Jaclyn for our holiday card, I actually captured a photo that really depicted what was happening during our photo shoot.

The girls were sitting on a miniature Japanese bridge ready for the photo shoot.  Being 4 years older than Jaclyn, Nicole understood the routine and just wanted to get the photos taken.  Jaclyn, of course, being 4 years younger, thought it would be amusing to irritate her big sister. 

I couldn’t get a good photo because one of them either had their eyes closed or looked bored.  So I told them that we were going to stay there until we got a decent photo for the family card. Yikes, that sounded way too familiar for me – I was beginning to sound like my parents!

Then as I waited for them to come around, I captured the perfect photo.  The one that truly depicted the spirit of the session.  Nicole grabbed Jaclyn’s face and squeezed it as hard as she could – notice the blood vessels popping out of the side of her neck? And at the same time, Jaclyn couldn’t let her big sister get the better of her so Jaclyn stuck her tongue out at Nicole! A picture really is worth a 1000 words! This is the funniest photo I’ve ever taken of them. 

That year, I made enlargements of both photos and framed them.  

Here’s the other photo, for comparison: