Stroke a Pose

Not every photo shoot is a success. Especially with my mom involved. She's a beautiful woman, but she totally strokes out in front of the camera. Seriously. I've never seen anyone morph so quickly from a sweet, classy looking lady into someone who looks, well, a little bit drunk. And in the case of the following photo shoot, we were cursed by exceptionally harsh lighting, so neither one of us are looking our best anyway. ...But I had the brilliant idea that if only my mom said "cheese," she might master that whole "natural smile" look. Mmm-mmm. It didn't work. Look:

"Okay, now don't say anything."

"Okay, okay, we're on a roll! Let's take some together. Say 'cheese.'"

"Let's try again. And this time, don't say 'chiz.' 'Cheese.'"

"Hey! Not bad! But we flashed our faces out. Let's try again. 'Cheese!'"

"Um....all right....but only this time, look at the camera. Say 'cheese!'"

"You look a tiny bit Alzheimery in this one. One more time." (Note: by this time we are both laughing too hard to take any decent pictures...I don't know why I kept trying. But I did.)


Ah yes, the picture I'd been hoping to get...let's call it a day.