posers

I took a million photos during our trip to the mountains over Thanksgiving weekend, and as one might expect, images of my gorgeous kids occupied most frames. I like to catch them in their natural habitat, talking to each other or walking along or generally spazzing out. It used to be really easy to do this, they were so wrapped up in themselves and each other's company that they hardly noticed when I aimed the camera their way, and if they did notice they couldn't be bothered to attend to the fact. Now that they are older and more self conscious, they want to look good in photos. Perhaps this tendency is reinforced just a wee bit by the fact that their mother is constantly plastering pictures of them all over the internet, but whatever the cause, the result can be pretty amusing.

They've become posers.

My girl must have enrolled in some online course offered by Olin Mills, the likes of which has inspired millions of  Awkward Family Photos worldwide. She is all about the arm shelf and the stacked knee and the jaunty head angle.

Despite her best efforts, some models don't take direction particularly well, and ruin the group shots. Look at her disapproving face up there.

It's much more civilized when she's on her own.

She's not a quitter though, and on another outing she found her brother more willing to work with her to make the magic happen.

She placed each of his limbs just so...

Offering constant encouragement and advice, including how to smile and keep your eyes open

To achieve her desired result

interesting leg position.

She wasn't happy with that. We tried a different backdrop, and a more natural leg assembly.

What? You don't relax on rocks in that position?

This next one's kinda awesome, despite the fact that my girl looks tortured, especially when you zoom on their faces.

Those are some good looking faces. I might be biased.

Then the kids took turns behind the camera, and my girl tried to manage an even more defiant model than her brother had been:

 

We threw her a bone in the end and did what she wanted

Awwwwwww

My girl is totally going to rock her yearbook photos in High School.