Photo Ops

We're not big family photo folks. It's not that we don't like to take pictures, but the thought of getting all gussied up and standing/sitting/posing for photos isn't something we put on the calendar often. We had a photographer take some family shots while we were in Tokyo. Very casual, very candid. She was great.

Recently, two things came to pass that made us realize that perhaps it was time for an updated professional family shot. The first was that in the Tokyo photos Henry is 3. He is no larger than our family dog now standing on his hind legs. Currently, Henry is standing almost eye to eye with me. The passage of time waits for no man. The second was that both of my sisters and I were going to be together for thanksgiving for the first time in a couple of decades. This meant that all the cousins were going to be together for the first time in a couple of decades. This meant that the timing was perfect to get them together for photos to give to my mother for Christmas. An auspicious alignment of the planets, so to speak.

So the day after Thanksgiving we donned our requisite 21st century black and white (I believe that this is kind of an unwritten law now for family photographs - Thou Shalt Stick with the Monochromatic Color Theme) - and headed out in to the Arizona morning sun for smiles.

In my mind, I equate posed photos with Olin Mills. You know - the kind of photos that show up on web-sites called "The Worst Family Portraits EVER in the history of man" or something like that. But, you know what? We like these. We really like these.

And so, without any further ado - the photos of The Wisniewski Family circa late 2010....

Oh, yeah - - we did get lots of others of all the cousins and the sisters together - - but we got these too. We got so caught up in the whole affair that there are 9,027 odd different poses of groups of cousins, groups of siblings (both young and old) family shots, kid shots, potential engagement photos, and shots of dogs. I'd show them all to you, but in a couple of the big group shots, there are some very wide smiles - indicating hysterical laughter. These happened when I audibly farted. Who's the wise guy that scheduled photos the morning after Thanksgiving dinner that included brussel sprouts? You're going to look at these pictures with a whole different eye now - - aren't you?