The Real Story Behind the Precious Picture

If you've been following Lynda's blog even a little, you've learned that Lynda was a very, very active little girl.  We have a lot of deceiving pictures of her that look like she was sitting still and posing.  Oh, my.  I wish I could show you how many rolls of film were used.  Just as a reference for all of you who have never had a camera that wasn't digital and a computer printer... before days of digital cameras, we used something called film that we could not see the pictures we had taken until we put the film (in a canister) into an envelope and sent it off to somewhere to be developed (made into a picture).  Then you paid someone to get your pictures back.  It took anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.  I know, I know....it was a flawed system.  LOL

This is kind of a behind the scenes if you've never experienced trying to take a picture of a very fast, very hyperactive child with autism.  It's much like trying to photograph a bag of marbles you've opened and dropped on the floor.  Just as the marbles hit the ground, you attempt to get a picture of them as they are all rolling in different directions.  Actually, I think that would be easier than trying to get a good picture of a child who does not want to have his picture made.  More often than not, it's because the child doesn't want to or can't sit still even for a few seconds.  Then there's all of the preparation that goes into making a picture.  Putting on the cute clothes.  Combing the hair.  Putting the cute clothes on again.  Standing in front of the child (but not so far that you can't catch her when she's plans to escape) and in our case clapping and singing "Happy Birthday" because Lynda would always clap and smile.  If you were lucky, the stars were all aligned and you were as quick as lightening....you'd snap the picture at just the right time at the end of "Happy Birthday tooooo (snap) you.  If not, same scenario again (and again).

I have so many pictures that "almost made the cut".  LOL  Actually rolls and rolls when trying to get the Raggedy Ann picture.  The end product looks like I said "Lynda, honey do you want Nana to make your picture in your cute costume?" and she jumped up into the rocking chair, arranged her dolls, and posed with her hands folded in her lap.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  In reality, I put that wig on a couple of thousand times.  I picked the dolls up from various places they had been thrown as Lynda said "DA".  Well, you get the idea.  I was a determined photographer, though.  Regardless of how many shots it took I was always hooked by the slot machine mentality that the next one was going to be the BIG one.  My perseverance paid off because had I not been determined to have pictures of this child regardless of what I had to do to get them....I would have only have pictures the back of her head or a blur as she ran quickly in the opposite direction. And I do have my share of those shots, as well!