Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Family Pictures





Ever since I can remember, whenever my family (now or then) gets together, there are always family pictures.

The earliest ones I can remember are when my sisters and I would go to Columbus, Ohio and visit my grandparents on my dad's side. This group always included my first cousins, the ones who had the Hawaiian party not too long ago. Well, Grandpa would get us on the steps, as you see in one of my pictures, or he would get us all behind a couch with the adults in sitting mode.

When we visited my mom and dad after I was in Michigan, my kids, their first cousins, and the whole group had to do "the family thing." My dad had a tripod so he could be in the picture too. That was pretty neat. We all stood there with silly grins on our faces and waited for him to run into the picture. Then, flash, it was done. We have these from Thanksgivings, Christmases, and Easters.

Well, the habit didn't stop with my dad. No, I got the picture taking gene. I took the color picture on this post of our group when my kids were teens and younger. Everyone was down in the basement to watch my daughter and I do a clogging routine which we thought was pretty good at the time.

I love to look at all of these group pictures and see how we have all changed over the years. Even though I think it may be a funny, quirky, family thing, these pics are some of my favorite. I love to think of the groans behind all the participants as yet another shot is needed.

I realize that not everyone wants their pictures taken. My husband will only agree on special occasions. If it's not special enough, he won't smile. (Ha, Ha.)

So how about you? Do you do the picture taking? Do you like having your picture taken? And lastly, do you have stacks of comical family pictures in your possession that are just too cool to part with?





10 comments:

  1. I don't like having my picture taken, but I love having pictures in albums of my family! I'm a photo nut!

    Cool pictures!

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  2. I'm with Jill. I don't like having my picture taken, but I love taking them. I guess you would say I'm the over-the-top picture taker at our family events. Funny, though, I'm not in hardly any of them. :)

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  3. I have an aunt that is insane! She will take pictures of everyone while they are eating, sleeping, watching TV, and pretty much every other chance she gets! She drives everyone crazy.

    My wife is the picture taker in our house. She loves photography but doesn't go too overboard. However, on our last vacation, we were gone for 12 days and she took just over 1000 pictures! You could see the change in the kid's smiles from the first day to the last. Mainly in the pictures on the last few days, the smiles were all but gone!

    Speaking of smiles, I don't mind my picture taken but I don't want a big goofy grin on my face. So I would do what I thought was a mild, pleasant smile. My wife kept complaining that I wasn't smiling and I would insist that I was. The problem was I never really looked at the pictures afterward. Finally, this past summer, after 12 years of marriage, she finally showed me a bunch of pictures and proved to me that I wasn't smiling! So now....bring on the goofy grin!

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  4. I like pictures but don't think I am very photogenic so I like to take shots of others. :O)

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  5. We take a lot of photos of our grandkids, since we only see them a few times a year. Most of the old photos I have are of two or three people. I wish I had more full family photos.

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  6. Sadly, now with digital, I actually take less pictures since they sit on my computer, though I used to when we developed all of them. I love looking at pictures and seeing the changes that occur over the years. Like Diane, I hate mine taken!

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  7. I'm usually the picture-taker, but doesn't it suck that the picture-taker is never in any of the photos?

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  8. Andy - 1000 pictures. Wow.

    Steph - Yes! It stinks. That's why I made sure my sister got shots of me on my trip to New England.

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  9. We have hundreds of old photos stored away in boxes. Maybe it's about time I get them down and take look at them. I'm sure it would rekindle some good old memories :-)

    ~Ron

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  10. Hi Nancy -

    This was the first Thanksgiving I didn't take a bunch of pictures. I'll be sure to take a lot at Christmas because my honorary niece and her family will be in from Texas, and the other niece will have a new baby.

    Blessings,
    Susan :)

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