Yesterday, Jed and Kam were kind enough to come down to Los Gatos and do their best to capture my unruly family on film for holiday card photos. It is not easy to photograph a baby
and a dog! Ellie definitely does not understand the concept of smiling for the camera, or even looking at the camera, and baby is not much better. But Jed and Kam did splendidly, and in fact, I think these are my favorite photos of me in quite a while. Which is saying something, because what with all the pregnancy weight (I currently weigh more than I ever have, sigh), I've been pretty unhappy about my appearance lately. So hooray for talented photographers who make you look your best. :-)
That said, we're completely torn on the photos, and could use your help. Two decisions follow:
#1
#2
For the main photo, we're going to go with one of the two above, by Kam. I love them both. Please express a preference if you have it -- #1, or #2?
We also may do one of those photo cards that lets you use a few different photos. If we do that, we'll need to pick from the fine images below, all by Jed. If there are any you particularly like, please let me know! You can vote for as many as you like, whether that's 0 or 3 or 20. Okay, maybe 20 is not so helpful. :-) You could also suggest pairings if you like, i.e. #1, along with a and b. Any input is appreciated!
a.
d.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
l.
m.
n.
p.
q.
r.
v.
As someone who LOVES such things, I note that #1 and #2 work as a stereo pair, even if not so intended. So for your friends with stereoscopes, please use both! (Noticing this fact, I cannot give an opinion as to which is better.)
Hi, Mary Anne. All the pics are great. You look fabulous. I like #1 better than #2–everyone looks good in both of them, but in #1 Kevin looks more relaxed.
So many of the others are so good. Kudos to your photographers.
What a great set of photos. I prefer number 1 because everyone is making eye contact with the camera. Even Ellie looks like she’s looking at me. For other photo occasions I don’t think that is that important but for holiday cards, which are after all greetings, I like that. If you go with the multiples, I would say number one with a, n and p. In a and n, one of the “children” is looking at the camera while everyone else is focused elsewhere and p…ok p is just to darn cute to leave out!
If I was having to narrow this down to a small number of pictures, I’d pick #2, p, and r. However, I think you should also send everyone on your list a link to this page, because these are all terrific photos.
I don’t have strong opinions about these, except that I really like what you did with cropping p–in addition to the cuteness of Kavya and Ellie interacting, it makes a neat layout/composition, with two big hands pointing one way and two small bodies pointing another way, and I like the symbolism of the adult hands holding/taking care of the kids, especially with the addition of Kevin’s hand on Kavya’s head. I don’t think it would have occurred to me to crop it like that, but it makes for a way better photo than the full original; nice work!