What An “Eventful” Photo Shoot: Jennifer Stamps Photography

A month or so ago Austin Moms Blog teamed up with Jennifer Stamps Photography to come on board as AMB’s official photographer. We were so excited about this partnership that we asked JSP to take new family photos of the Barry’s and the Mack’s, but more importantly, of our kiddos for their joint birthday party invitations {which are absolutely adorable and we will share at a later date}.

We had MAJOR obstacles in the way for our scheduled shoot.

1. 2 toddlers…enough said, but for today’s purposes I’ll explain: The Barry’s showed up punctual {as usual} and started with their family pictures until the Mack’s arrived {late as usual}. By the time we arrived, Caroline was starting to get antsy and was close to being over the whole picture taking thing, but was still doing her best to be a ham {she didn’t have to try too hard…it’s a Caroline thing}. Lincoln typically takes a nap around 10 am “ish” so he was starting to rub his eyes, get glassy eyed, and began acting like a typical almost two year old… totally and utterly over it before it even started. Try taking a picture of not one, but two kids where they are both looking at the camera at the same time, both have an adorable expression on their face, and both are sitting still. It was a complete nightmare to say the least!
2. 2 families: Obviously Vanessa and I didn’t want to be at the shoot ALL day, but the husbands???? They were less than thrilled about pictures as it was so we knew we had to be quick before the men had meltdowns. I mean I couldn’t even get my husband to shave the morning of the shoot so asking him to stand on South Congress for too long might have resulted in a divorce 🙂 Honestly though, they were troopers. I think Vanessa and I threatened our husbands enough that they needed to behave and just stand there and look pretty. Mission accomplished, but still an obstacle.
3. South Congress was our location and it was Rot Rally weekend: I can’t speak for Vanessa, but my son is completely obsessed with loud vroom vroom noises, things that move, and pretty much anything other than having his photograph taken. Caroline was slightly less distracted by the constant motorcycles that were driving by, but not by much. An even greater obstacle and distraction to get both of our children looking at the camera at the same time. Honestly Jennifer with JSP probably should have just ridden on the back of a Harley Davidson and gone around the block a few times to achieve both kiddos looking at the camera at the same time.
4. 90+ degree weather: It was HOT! I mean really really hot. Vanessa and I scheduled the shoot early in hopes that we wouldn’t be too terribly hot. Well… it was a fail and still totally hot. I made Wesley wear a long sleep button down shirt, because well, that’s how I think he looks best for a photo shoot. His back was sweating through his shirt {ewww I know, but it was HOT if you haven’t gotten the memo by now} about 10 minutes in to the shoot. Vanessa and I brought multiple changes of outfits, but never touched the clothes. We wore exactly what we came in. Hopefully we won’t look like we are smoldering {I guess that could be a good thing depending on what type of smoldering we are talking about} when we receive all the pics.
5. The shoot was scheduled the day after my birthday party and was set to start at 9:30 am: Okay, in our defense we planned the shoot well before my husband planned a birthday excursion for me with all of my friends. Had I known we would be out until almost 1 am, drinking cocktails starting at 8 pm, and never stopping with the orders of drinks I probably would have suggested a different day for the photo shoot. I’m not proud of it, but I felt so sick the next day. I had to wake up at 6:30 am to ensure I had myself and Lincoln ready to walk out the door by 9 am, but we hadn’t gone to sleep until close to 2 am. I’ve never been a “bags under my eyes” kind of girl {win}, but my stomach felt like it had a basketball in it {lose} and I’m sure my facial expressions were difficult to conceal. Vanessa pretty much felt the same, but “I think” we both looked good enough to pull off some decent updated pics for the website and to hang in our home.

Given the above circumstances we were pretty nervous about the quality of our pics. Not the quality of JSP’s work, but the quality of the subjects aka, us. Surprisingly though, they have turned out just perfect and our little bundles are absolutely precious! We didn’t have a plethora of options with the kiddos, but I mean seriously? They’re nearly 2 years of age and we had 2 of them! We had enough to choose from that will make the perfect birthday invitation and Vanessa and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome! More importantly, even with the cluster of events, Jennifer had us in and out within an hour, she never stopped clicking away, she was SO patient with my and Vanessa’s constant whiny-ness about the self-inflicted pain we brought on ourselves {drinking too much}, and was completely doting on our tantrum throwing, hot, and fussy kiddos. If I were her I would have been rolling my eyes and huffing, but she was so professional, carefree, and understanding.  Jennifer couldn’t be more perfect to work with. Seriously! I can’t wait until the holidays to have JSP do our family pics for our Christmas card.

Here’s a few sneak peaks of our photo shoot for your viewing entertainment! Tell us what you think! And be on the look out for a Jennifer Stamps Photography Giveaway in the next coming weeks!!!