Stand by me

To wrap up our visit with Melanie so that we can move forward in the space time continuum, allow me to tell you about our final photo shoot.

It was last Thursday.

Stephanie was en route with her two younger children to spend the night, pose for some pictures, give the kids an opportunity to swim in the pool one last time (for the summer), and collect Melly.

In preparation, Melanie relaxed in a bubble bath. I washed her hair. She dressed in a new top I'd bought for her.

We dried her hair and I pushed it away from her face with a glittery headband of my own. Melly didn't like it and let me know she preferred her usual half-up, half-down.

But I wanted a few pictures of her looking different than usual. Her hair hanging full from the sparkly headband was so glamorous. I teased a little bump behind the sparkle and added a few well-placed squirts of hairspray.

I asked if she'd consent to keep it that way for about a half hour, and also lose her glasses.

She liked that wild idea even less than the hairdo, but with some wheedling, I prevailed.

The result was several pretty pictures that I will treasure. Melanie liked them too.

Proving once again that sometimes you have to shake things up.

So then it was parking on the front porch, waiting for mama to come around the bend, which she did, right on schedule. Melanie was ecstatic.

Now is the time for me to tell you a family secret: Melanie refuses to stand beside her sister when pictures are taken.

It can get ugly. 

Some opine that it is because Allissa tends to be bossy; others suggest that Melanie tends to be bratty.

I say it's a little bit of each. Both. And then there's normal sibling rivalry. Bless their hearts.

Ah well.

This picture perfectly sums up the way things are:

Haaaahahaha. Look at Melanie's face. She's having none of it.

Since it's difficult to reason with Melanie as one might with other children, we work around her.

As in, I promised all week that if she'd let me get some pictures of her mother with herself and her sister and brother, without making trouble, she wouldn't be required to stand next to Allissa.

She agreed by not actively disagreeing and for the most part, it went well as long as the girls' mother acted as a physical buffer.

See Melly above? Can you guess what she's looking at? It's Rizzo, behind the big planter. You can just see the tip of his nose as he attempts to photo bomb.

It was humid so after this shot we headed back inside where I had set up lights in a few different locations. Erica was coming over too, and Audrey with Dagny. 

Remember the aunts and uncles pictures? It was that scene again, only with Melanie this time. The last one. Uncle Andrew is away so he couldn't be included.

First I asked Audrey and Dagny to pose in front of my backdrop which I love, but which is too narrow for most of the shots I want. Bear in mind I am a perpetual beginner.

Something must be done about it. But not today.

I put Steph and the kids in front of a distressed-brick backdrop and tried to squeeze everyone into the frame.

Melanie looks as if she came with another group and wandered into our photo. But we'll take it.

Then I put them in the open window backdrop and got one that I rather like, only I wish everyone was wearing black. Do you see it? The gothic vibe?

It helps that Stephanie could double for Morticia Addams.

Come to think of it, Allissa could pass for Wednesday Addams.

I'll have to engineer that one next time.

We repaired to the sun room and took a few shots there.

Back upstairs in the regular studio, it was time to get down to business. Pizza had been ordered and everyone was ravenous.

I was working against time.

Audrey and Dagny had posed a bit earlier while I was checking lighting, and I was reminded of how much I love photos of people looking at one another. Dag and Audge connect instantly, with great eye contact.

So I began suggesting to Melanie that she cozy up to her Aunt Audrey, hoping that I could get a shot similar to this of the two of them.

But she began doing her impersonation of a mule. A particularly recalcitrant one.

Her mother scolded her. I put my camera down and said I wasn't going to fight with her about it. I was tired.

But Stephanie persisted, not willing to give up just yet. Something she said reminded me of an anxious day in late December of 2004, when Melanie was less than a week old and had just come home from the hospital.

Because of Melly's cleft palate, she had to be fed through a piece of thin tubing that was positioned just so in her tiny throat, after which a quantity of formula was plunged through the tubing into her waiting stomach.

Stephanie had sat up on the sofa all night that first night, coaxing drops of nourishment into her baby's body. By morning, my daughter was so pale, she was nearly transparent. She needed sleep.

I was not able to work the tubing and feed the baby. I was afraid. But not Audrey. I can still see her hunched over Melanie's infant seat, deftly placing the tube down the baby's throat and plunging in the formula while Stephanie caught a few blessed hours of rest.

Yes; there is room for shame in my game. I reminded Melanie in no uncertain terms of the debt she owes to her Aunt Audrey. If you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat, is my motto.

And we got some shots.

Then it was Aunt Erica's turn. Erica is like a whisperer. Little kids and animals adore her and, as the male population to Scarlett O'Hara, "just naturally flock to her."

Melanie marched right over there and posed with her aunt.

Now the North Carolina contingent has returned home and summer is on the wane and school is starting, and the grandkid visits are done.

I'll be editing pictures until the first yellow leaf drifts by the window, accompanied by a shower of acorns on the roof.

And so it goes.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Tuesday

Comments

[Luna Crone]

-giggles- YOu are a wild woman, with a camera!!!!! :-))))

But you get marvelous results!

Lots of hugs, Luna Crone

[Donna (Texas)]

Well I think you took some great shots Miss Jenny! And that is definitely a neat backdrop.
I never could get all my chickens to stay in that proverbial basket!Lolol
hughugs

[Judy]

All nice photos!. I love Melanie's smile when she is posed with Aunt Erica. Precious.

[Mari]

I love them! It helps that they are all so photogenic - and you are good with that camera! I really like that window backdrop. Melly is really looking older lately and it really shows in some of these shots.
You would have laughed last weekend. I was trying to get pictures of Alaina and Ruby and they were having none of it Alaina was sick of it, Ruby was looking in every direction but forward, Alaina was giving fake smiles and Ruby was scrunching her eyes shut. And Bob - he was wandering around being a distraction! In the meantime, the lighting was perfect but the pictures didn't turn out very good... I know you feel my pain!
I'm glad you got good pics though!

[Cheryl Arment]

I love all of this! I am so glad that Melly let you take her hair down and put on that sparkly head band. What a picture!! That is a keeper for sure. We understand all about sibling rivalry. How did we make it through all those days? What makes me happy is that now Ben has it to deal with. :)

Your girls, like you, are all so photogenic with their beautiful dark hair. You must be French.

Here it is hump day. Just a few more days and we will meet face to face. Happy travels!

[irene]

What a wonderful time you've had. Lovely photos.