Photo Shoot

Due to the fact this post is dated December 9, 2007, you can surmise that I survived the half marathon yesterday. More on that tomorrow.

Today will be dedicated to last weekend's photo shoot. The plan was for the Engelken crew to be photographed at The Spectrum by uncle [b]. The subsequent photo would be placed on the ol' Christmas Card. Easier said than done.

Cade does not like photo shoots. He is no one's monkey boy. He will not hold a pose. And when we are in a fun place like the Spectrum, he is on add overload. Cade just zips from one place to the next. He loves automatic doors, and he knows exactly where Nordstrom's handicap entrance is. He makes a beeline for the little blue button that opens the door.

This thing needs to be stopped

Of course, the line for Santa is a mile long when we arrive. That eliminates the obligatory "Santa Photo Op." To work with Caden's zig-zag approach to outdoor malls, [b] simply walked in front of Cade, and took pictures unassumingly. The technique can be described as the Steve Nash Method. He was snapping the pictures behind the back, no look style.

Nash going behind the back

Taking pictures this way enabled Cade to be photographed without the burden of him having to pose. The result of the Nash Method was this:

I call it the James Dean shot, because it reminds me of this famous image:

Call me sacrilegious, but the background of Cade at The Spectrum reminds of a street scene from the NYC. And before you start to think Cade is getting way too big, know this: the hands-in-pockets trick came about because we were attempting to keep him from sticking his hands in his diaper. There you go.

We actually won't use the James Dean shot for the Christmas Card. Ironically, the one we will use was taken about 120 seconds into the photo shoot. The remaining 1,499 pictures [b] took went on the cutting room floor. I am refraining from posting the Christmas Card shot so people tremble with anticipation.

And if you don't get a Christmas Card, well............. you should not have been on my naughty list.