Photo shoot from hell

I'm one of those people who hate getting gift cards or gift certificates as a present. While some people treat them as free money, excited to go out and spend, I find them to be a complete hassle. They are usually for a store I normally don't shop in and if I do, I'll forget to bring them. Some even expire before I get to use them. Don't even get me started on merchandise credits. Currently, I have a large stack of them from everything from department stores, Crate and Barrel, The Children's Place, and probably about $300 left to Babies R Us.

Last May, I received a $100 gift certificate for a portrait sitting at Kiddie Kandids at BRU as a gift and cringed when I received it. This was a gift I knew the friend would ask if I used and how can you lie about having photos done. I have never been interested in going to the department stores to get photos done. I am not one of those mamas who felt that every 3 months Master A needed to be commemorated at one of these studios, or get photos done for every holiday. When Master A was a month old, we had a photographer come to our home to do the shoot. It was scheduled at a good time for him, was done in an hour, and we didn't have to travel. It may have cost a bit more, but the quality and lack of aggravation was worth every penny.

So, of course, I waited until the gift certificate was going to expire this week to take Master A up to the photo studio in Union Square. I scheduled these photos at least three other times but chickened out from going for many excuses (mainly just that I didn't want to deal with it). Unfortunately, it only left mother's day to go and it was as terrible as I thought.

Master A of course decided to delay his nap by two hours on this day so we pushed the appointment back. However, this made the appointment 4:15 pm, which can also be Master A's witching hour. He was already cranky traveling and we had to wait about a half an hour to be called for the photos (though there was no one in the studio). I learned that 15 months is not a good age to do photos. Personally, I would go on hiatus once they start crawling, until they are a few years old and want to pose for pictures. I told the photographer (basically a young kid) that I wanted no silly "spring backgrounds" and no "props". Just simple "contemporary" pictures. Master A had other plans. He would only sit with 7 items on his lap. We had balls, cars, you name it, just to keep him from screaming and trying to climb down. Every two minutes, the photographer had to run away to do something else. We were there OVER 2 HOURS. The pictures really weren't great and by the time it came to choosing the pictures, I couldn't have cared less. Mr R was ready to walk out after five minutes. When I got home, I realized that the photos were just on a sheet, not even cut into the sizes. I now have to go out and buy a paper cutter to cut them.

This "gift" was such a major hassle and not the way I would have liked to have spent Mother's Day. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I give credit to the mamas who do this regularly. You couldn't pay me to do it again. We bought an SLR camera about six months ago and take lots of pictures ourselves and for baby #2, I will probably do another photo shoot at home. How do these places stay in business? I know this all sounds so snotty and ungrateful but a gift shouldn't be work.