Valentine's Day Photos

It's such a challenge shooting my own children, I'm running out of ways I can bribe Luke... Candy/treats don't work because he's quick to shove them in his mouth and then the candy/treat ends up center of attention in the shot! Forget bribing with a prize (what we call a special/just because toy) because then it ends up in the shot... delayed gratification ("I'll take you to get ice cream after," "If you take a picture with your brother, I'll give you a toy...") doesn't work because he's then fixated on the bribe and will constantly repeat, "I want ice cream, I want ice cream," over and over until I'm dying inside! So, what works for us now is to play a game with him, "Luke, can you see the bug on my camera?" And of course, this only works for 30 seconds. Needless to say, taking photos of my toddler isn't exactly what I would call easy OR fun these days! I'd now much rather spend my time capturing him as he is, with exception of special holiday setups like this, you won't be seeing many posed shots of my camera-shy toddler around here!

I keep reminding myself that all I need is one decent photo, then I can leave the poor boy alone! I'm quite proud of myself that I actually stayed true to my goal of one decent shot today...


and, surprisingly, he agreed to take a photo with his brother (it came at the price of quite a few conversation heart candies, which we let him eat before, during and after this shot ♥ *I couldn't decide if I liked it better in b&w, well ok, I like HIM better in b&w but the background, not so much. So I'm including it anyway ;)


too bad Logan can't be coaxed yet ;) but I did manage to get a somewhat decent shot of Logan (I was already tired, hot and sweaty by this point, itching to be done with it all).


I waited and waited for one of his million dollar smiles (which are pretty frequent these days) but he wasn't having it, it was past his nap time and he was due to eat... bad combo :(

and even though this is what I get when I ask Luke to smile...


I'll still continue to do it, it's as natural as breathing, unfortunately, haha.

and just for comparison's sake, here's a photo of Luke 12-months ago, his Valentine's session in February 2011.


What a difference a year makes, right?! And look at that awesome hair, I think Logan is going to be very jealous of Luke's locks at some point, hehe.