To be upset over ruined photo shoot?

[iamjustgutted]

Gutted about this.

I spent admittedly far too much on a Mother’s Day photo shoot. Had it today and was awful. Kids not playing ball at all; ds wild and charging around like a complete lunatic, dd whiny and refusing to do anything she was asked.

I know it’s just kids etc but I can’t lie; I’m gutted.

Just going to offer possibly a helpful tip (my DH does try to take photos but they’re usually not great although I appreciate he tries!) but you could always head outdoors/ to the beach or wherever and prop your phone somewhere and just set it to record. Then take stills from the video. Play with the kids, or cuddle them and walk holding hands etc. Videos are usually good enough on phones now that they look absolutely fine when screenshotted into photos. They won’t be as awkward or hard work as trying to get everyone looking and smiling. I gave up trying to get photos of multiple family children years ago but videos aren’t as much pressure waiting for a split second and you’d be surprised how many options you get.

Well that’s lovely for you and all your exceptionally well behaved angel children. As this thread shows getting toddlers to cooperate and sit still and pose and smile on demand is difficult and often a complete write off.
Sometimes you get them to do what you want, often, you don’t!

Totally feel you on this one OP! I also have no nice pictures of me with the kids as DH is rubbish at taking them so have tried a couple of times to get professional pictures taken but it was basically a disaster both times as kids were grumpy, not cooperating etc. ironically the only good ones the photographer got were of my husband and one of the kids 😠

Once you get the pictures tell chat to edit them to be what you want to see. You can do anything with AI these days. Just delete the where she gives people etc arms etc.

Selfi stick or tripod etc?

I'm pretty sure that is what many of us would get! My kids would somehow get covered in mud even it is was an indoor shoot.

I thought you were going to say you were a single parent until you mentioned a DH. Honestly you need to tell him to step up with the photo taking. How old are your children? I’ve been able to take some lovely selfies with mine from around age 2 ish (I’m a line parent) it’s hit or miss and I delete more than I keep but they are far better than any professional photo shoot - I know that’s not what you want to hear but chalk this one up to experience OP. The pressure to get a good photo in a formal setting is going to cause untold stress - tell your DH every time you go out you want photos with the kids and be clear you want nice ones or you’ll have him re take them

Thank you you too

You have got photos from today, realistic ones. What you wanted was fake insta ready ones.

God, Mumsnet sometimes. There's nothing weird or wrong with wanting some photos of your family taken by a professional photographer.

I feel your pain, OP. There's a reason why someone (Orson Welles? W C Fields?) said never to work with animals or children. I have a load of photos of my normally very sunny DD looking like absolute thunder behind a cake that I sweated blood into the night to produce and which looked and tasted awesome and I was quite upset about it at the time. She even looked annoyed with the cake as she was cramming it into her tiny face with her tiny hands (she was a toddler). However, I love those photos now.

In short, I bet they're not as bad as you think they are, OP. And if they are, you'll still come to enjoy them. But it's hard when you think an experience is going to be lovely and you just cannot get your children to play ball.

Unfair. I don’t do social media photo posting or photo shoots, but sometimes I just want a nice family photo with everybody looking at the camera and smiling. That’s not too much to ask occasionally!

No, what I wanted was some photographs of me with my children without massive logs, my son leaping around, my daughter actually looking at the camera.

DH isn’t around a lot and when he is he doesn’t take photos. Yes, if I ask him he will but toddlers move quickly and the moment has generally gone by the time he’s got his phone out. Selfies look AWFUL (on me I mean, not other people.)

So I am sorry if being a bit upset and disappointed that having spent £80, I didn’t get what I’d hoped for, but I’m human and it does make me a bit sad there are virtually no photos of me with the children. But … it is something and nothing really. However I will be honest and say I don’t find it funny either, I just wish I hadn’t booked the thing. People laughing, even if it isn’t the intent, kind of makes me feel that I’ve made a tit of myself and the ‘well what did you expect’ responses just make me feel foolish. The photographer advertised on a mums page, specialising in family shoots, it was outdoors. I just feel almost like I’ve been on the receiving end of a slightly unkind practical joke.

OP don’t feel stupid. Of course you’re disappointed, happens when things don’t go to plan. I think the photoshoot sounds lovely for you. Candid and outdoors. People assume it’s for social media - not sure why - sounds like it’s for you. Raw now, but when the photos come back I bet you’ll be able to smile and it’ll show you your kids running and having fun!

Hopefully the photographer will work some wizardry OP and still manage to give you something good, edits go a long way. Fingers crossed 💐

Sorry about your mum, OP. Maybe you're putting a lot of weight on this photo shoot as you wanted it to have value for posterity.

I'm not sure about you, but when my mum died I treasured the oddest things, like a scrappy old teatowel (because it brought back memories of us in her kitchen). Photos, not so much.

One thing you can guarantee about life is that things never turn out the way you expect. It's a shame this photo shoot didn't go to plan, but one way or another you'll end up accumulating a few photos you really love - I have only a handful really - probably just odd snapshots over the years!

Judgemental much…?

If it helps, @iamjustgutted , my mum took my brother and I to a photographer in a department store in the 70s to get photos to send to her family overseas. They'd never met him, he was two and a half.

We had haircuts, new outfits, the whole thing. The photographer gave my little brother a toy to catch and he got hyper and was wanging the damn thing all over the place.

Eventually the photographer got short with him, took the toy away, and my brother immediately shut down with a face like thunder.

Nothing could get him to smile or look the right way. My poor Mum.

40 years on they are her favourite photos of my brother. She laughs so hard at the obstreperous wee shite he was and the lengths she went to to try make him smile.

How is it judgemental to say i've never heard of Mother's Day photo shoots?
And to express surprise because it doesn't really have anything to do with the spirit of Mother's Day

@iamjustgutted - I'm sorry about the photoshoot (and some of the responses on this thread) - though you did make me smile with your descriptions of your son and those wretched logs.

@iamjustgutted did the photographer feel like he/she got ANYTHING you could use?

It seems a bit mad that they would take a young child to a park or forest and not anticipate that the child would run and play and pick up sticks!

Oh come on. It is clearly just a photo shoot with your mum.

It was very windy and very busy. The part she wanted to use was shut. I’m pretty sure they are going to be awful 😂

@iamjustgutted - one thing that might work and children seem to find a fun game and a game to get photos is to use selfie mode on your phone and use the 10 second timer delay while you all run into place for the photo. It even worked on my mother who hated having her photo taken but for some reason found the dash for the 10 second timer for the selfie highly entertaining

Tomorrow will no doubt be a pretty depressing affair at your place @iamjustgutted

Yes it will. Thank you for this.