Family Photo Shoots are ROUGH, man!

Not like rough in that I hate doing them - I actually LOVE to do them!  I get to act like a complete retard just to get the child (or children) to laugh and smile and all that loveliness.  Not like that is different from any other day, but ANYWAY...

The problem is that I like to be super creative, and take pictures like this:

Or this:

Oh, and obviously, since these 2 faves are both in black and white, I love effects, like this:

Or this:

But alas, even though this is the kind of photography I love to create and am drawn to, you can't put this on a dang Christmas card!  I meas, seriously, how CUUUUUTE is this picture:

Still, not REALLY a family portrait (although mom's shoes are BITCHIN' in this photo!!).  Man, it is HARD to be creative when you need to document that the entire family was together in one place.  It's simply not the place for abstractness.  Or, on a wedding day - I am sure Brides and Grooms want to look like themselves on their wedding day:

And NOT like a page right out of Polo/Ralph Lauren:

But see, my issue is that I have the MEMORY of this day.  I will remember it just like it actually was.  Blue sky, her gorgeous yellow bouquet, amazing Vera Wang dress (that bitch), so why can't we have a warm, slightly more surreal, fantastical, I-have-perfect-skin kind of a memory!

I know, family portraits are NOT the time to get crazy.  It's more about the family being together in one place, minus juice-stained-shirts, minus the daily stress of getting dinner on the table, minus the whining because dad wants to watch football instead of House Hunters (OK, that's me).  So, they are not creative.  There are not amazing effects.  There is no crazy moment to capture or story to tell.

But, there is LOVE.  So, I take a step out of ocd creative zone, tell everyone to smile and looky here, and snap the pic.