The Frustrating Task Of Photographing Twins: The Mobile Kind. (Tips & Silliness.)

Written by Twinpossible on February 3, 2011 - 0 Comments
Categories: All About Life With Twins, Fun Baby/Child Topics Of Interest, Miscellaneous

The Frustrating Task Of Photographing Twins: The Mobile Kind. (Tips & Silliness.)

2-2 & 2-3-2011

Twins are 11 months old. Where has the time gone?

That’s it! I can’t work with you people.

Seriously, how do you get get pictures of your twins after the age of like 6 months or so? MAYBE 7, but that’s it.

Under 5 months is the absolute best time, but after 7 or 8 months, 9 and on most especially, I say, ‘Does anybody have any duct tape? ‘Any double sided velcro adhesive I can attach to their little hineys?’ ‘Does that crazy glue stuff really work like on those commercials?’

Taking pictures of 2 babies is like running a marathon, but running a marathon with high blood pressure, because the stress of fighting for that perfect picture, definitely makes the pulse race and tensions grow high.

My husband doesn’t get it. ‘Just try again tomorrow.’ TOMORROW??? NO, NO, NO. If I spent the time dressing up two kids, getting everybody else occupied and setting the time aside to do so, we are taking the damn pictures now, however the results are getting worse by the month.

Remember the glory days?

Get over it, because those days are long gone!

Hundreds of snaperonies taken, and you’re thanking God we are in the digital age now, because it would cost an utter fortune to get a few good photographs if we weren’t. So hallelujah on that one. Even with the few good keepers, you may often get a closer look and notice some flaws. ‘Um what’s hanging out of her nose on that one?’ ‘One twin looks great but look at the drunk looking eyes on the other.’

I swear officer, I only had 1 beer.

(Just kidding of course:)

It’s so impossibly hard to get 10 month, 11 month twins to sit still for half of a darn second to take a shot, and forget the smiles, at this point who cares? Face forward at least. Don’t give me a shot of your backside running away from me is all. That is the adult version of giving someone the finger in my mind. HA, just joking, but seriously, it’s not the side we are looking to capture.

I get a few sweet ones of them separately, and mind you that is in between the crying fits, me and hub bashing pots and pans trying to get attention, and a lot of putting back on of hats and headbands being ripped off, and sometimes ripped to shreds. Thank God I’m cheap enough to shop deals, but it’s just an exhausting, exhausting experience. I literally sweat and feel like I have worked out afterwards. Who needs the gym?

Pick her back up and sit her back down…oh we got another loose one…pick that one back up and sit her back down, but by that time you get one back where she belongs, the other twin has high tailed it to the nearest 7-11. It’s just SO difficult.

I can’t really remember when they become posable and shall we say pleasant again, but I am HIGHLY looking forward to it. I now say, ’I know why professional photographers get paid the big bucks. They freakin’ earn it!’ Anybody can take nice pictures of a sleeping newborn, though maybe not as good as they can of course, but two insane twazies? Different story.

I say ‘Good luck with that’. I can’t wait to pay somebody else to go through this hell in a couple of weeks for 1 yr. birthday pics. They are your problem now.. HA HA!

Want to take photos of your twins or baby at this tough age? Some tips!

1) Feed them beforehand.

They are sure to decide to get hungry at a particularly critical moment. A hungry baby is never a happy one.

2) Make sure it isn’t too close to them having been fed or BLAH, outfit ruined.

Use the small window of opportunity to quickly seize the moment. Wait about 1/2 hour after a feed to play it safe.

3) Make sure your battery is charged or you have a back up camera.

Nearly got screwed by that one today.

4) You better have PLENTY of toys, loud, noise making objects at hand…..

because your singing ‘Itsy bitsy spider’ and stuff like that has gotten BORING and old. They are on to us folks. Get something really original they don’t see everyday, to really catch their eye.

Hmmm…Interesting.

5) Try and remain as calm as possible, despite your frustration, for babies’ sake.

Take a xanax before attempting to take the photos. Just kidding, but do take your blood pressure medication and a chill pill. When mom and dads get flustered and hot tempered, babies cry and fuss and show is over. I know because me and the hub get heated over this more then anything. Go figure. In the end calm teamwork is the only way to go. Don’t make your babies any more cranky, or it could be shoot finished!

6) Marry a very patient man, but if it’s too late, find a good friend to help you out.

Most men lack the patience that we possess. If you are one of the lucky ones who married a calm soul, take advantage of it, but if not, get help elsewhere.

7) Make sure there aren’t too many things around to entice them to crawl off. They get easily distracted.

Try and set up photo taking around things they are used to, so things remain as dull as possible. My mistake I won’t make next time, doing it upstairs.

8) Use a camera with some serious shutter speed.

Get a fast snapping camera because if you got a piece of junk like I had here, (the good one wasn’t charged), it snaps away painfully slow, and you miss that perfect second in time, and feel like bashing your head against a wall.

9) Make sure diapers are clean and not over full. Would you feel like smiling pretty with a load of piss in your pants.

Bad enough when we are forced to wear a pad at times, when other things aren’t quite enough. (You ladies know what I mean). Are we feeling up to par then? I think not. Babies have ‘moods’ to. They just aren’t monthly ones. Change that fanny!

10) If all else fails tell them when they get older, that you really did try, but here…this is all I could get at that time.

I’m sure you’ll still have more photos then our parents have of us. Take what you can get.

Oh and some bonus info. here:

*Remember* : There will be quite of a few of these along the way.

11) Cry baby pics

Just take a few minutes to hold your baby, re-group, and dear God, try, try, try again!

In the end you will likely get a few goodies to make it worth your while. Even if they aren’t perfect, this task will get easier with time. Hang in there. Best of luck.