To be upset over ruined photo shoot?

I wouldn’t waste £80 on a photo shoot like this, but you chose to do that.

You do have photos, and you will be able to look at them and see the humour in how it went wrong surely?

Or are you generally quite negative in your outlook? Is there something else going on with you?

It’s probably not going to make you feel better but the only professional photos my mum got my older brother and sister were not playing ball.

They were basically forced to be there in clothes they didn’t want to be in. Their face in the only photo that mum got looked like it could have been used for their passport pictures.

Mum grew to love it. It pictured what life with teenagers was like. On the other hand my husband’s family had professional pictures every year. The whole house is filled with them and honestly it’s creepy. All in the same
poses, same creepy huge smile, all looking like a stock picture than an actual family.

OP, I feel your pain. I have no photos of me and my son as a baby and then when he was 18 months I left his dad, just as Covid hit.

I would often set my phone up in the garden/living room and set a video off to record and then play together. I could then take screenshots from the video.

As others have said, you might be surprised and I promise you’ll look back at this with fond memories one day.

My favourite picture of my son is a professional one from my sisters wedding. Son is about 1, in a full suit, laud on the floor having a tantrum. The family surrounding him. It’s such a lovely picture.

Sorry you were gutted OP, it's horrible when things don't work out how you are hoping. Unfortunately kids don't always appreciate what adults are trying to do.

Can you really not see the funny side?

DH isn’t around a lot…
It isn’t just the photos, it’s a general sense of nothing I do going well and backfiring massively. It does feel at the moment that every time I try to do something nice either for me or someone else it backfires and ends badly.

@iamjustgutted - may I suggest that you perhaps step away from this thread as it seems to be upsetting you further instead of helping. Some time after the weekend you may want to try posting in Relationships about what is really going on as there is clearly so much more troubling you than a ‘ruined’ photo shoot. 💐

Snuggle on sofa in your pjs, when everyone is calm and relaxed, take some group selfies, send the best to one of those printing companies.

Can't believe you were so rude to @PatriciaRocks who was clearly trying to console you with the voice of experience that this won't matter at all in time - you might even laugh about it.

Clearly, no-one is ever unreasonable to be disappointed / upset that something they were looking forward to didn't pan out as they hoped, BUT clearly it was pretty optimistic in the first place. All parents surely know that small dc are unpredictable (as is the weather as you planned this outside).

In this day and age, with everyone having a digital camera on their phone on them at all times, it is an interesting choice to spend £80 on a 'photoshoot' when clearly £80 is a not inconsiderable sum for you, but of course we can all spend our money as we wish, but you must have known that small dc are unpredictable, and factored that into whether it was worth spending that money or not.

I don't really understand the way that you're approaching this or why you feel the need to joke about the obviously genuine sadness that OP is feeling.

I was probably a bit harsh earlier because I did think you had unrealistic expectations. Don't feel stupid. You'll have years to get great ones, a little blackmail is easier when they're older.
My DGD recently had a very expensive cake smash shoot where a minimum number of photos had to be bought too. She delicately picked at the sprinkles one by one from the cake and the photos of her are amongst the worst I've seen of our beautiful girl.
Take a friend (if DH is useless at photos) on a picnic this Summer and get them to take loads. I'll bet you'll find at least one that is gorgeous and genuine.

No I'm not. It was a photoshoot that didn't work out, not a life or death situation. All this talk of but being "still raw", it's way over the top.

The outcome will depend on how good at editing your photographer is mine got some good shots of my kids poking their tongues out at each other but they refused to do it at the same time so she said she could splice the pictures if she couldn't get the shot

We went for an indoor photo shoot less distraction had pictures with the kids by themselves then with the parents problem was (for my husband) all the kids wanted to be with me not him "because we never get mom pics" it shows in his face and the kids faces they are hilarious and I wouldn't change them 🤣

It's a nice thing for the future my dad had zero photos of himself with his mom he loved his mom to pieces but the photos he had were her with his cousin her with a brother etc etc so I made sure to get a few "official" photos for when we are all older

But it is reasonable to think that she might be sad about losing her mum even if she hasn't specifically referenced it here.

Be gentle with yourself, @iamjustgutted. It is OK to be upset, but you know the feelings will pass - and things will all look better.

@iamjustgutted - it is horrible when something you have looked forward to, and paid a lot for, doesn’t work out, so I am sympathetic.

I do echo the posters who have said wait and see what pictures the photographer did get - they may be better than you are thinking. You will be in them, with your family, and as other people have said, this may come to be a funny, family memory - something real and true that you will smile about.

You could also consider another session, but look at what worked and what went wrong with this one, and do things differently. Do you have a friend or family member who could come and do some more candid shots, in a less pressured situation?

Don't give up just yet. A friend of mine is a professional photographer and she does a lot of family shoots. I know for a fact that she offers to redo sessions when she can't get anything worth using!