A photograph of you

Day 2 of "make a post a day" month and I am still going strong!

When I came down stairs this morning E. had hung one of the professional pictures we had recently had done of the kids, on the wall at the stairs half-landing. It was certainly very impressive - and to be honest a lot bigger than I remember from the shop!! It was of V. and A having a cuddle and is lovely. It reminded me of the first "professional" shoots we had done when A. was around 8 months old and had just started to crawl.

He was as pleased as punch about his new found skill and so was rocketing around the studio on his hands and knees with a huge smile on his face - it made for some excellent photos. The studio was in some factory/warehouse units just around the corner from where we lived in Chancellor Grove in London and E. had suggested that I take A. around as they were having a "special" offer. As seems almost universally the case with professional photographers, this involved one "free" photo and the opportunity to buy other shoots at a fairly extortionate rate (much like the photos we had done in Dubai - the cost was around GB1,000 equivalent although we did get a number of them as Christmas presents for the Grandparents)!

Getting to the photo shoot in Dulwich involved an atmospheric walk through what felt like the backdrop to a set from a 1970's crime drame - lots of echoing and empty warehouse units, a steel case lift with a door you had to pull closed and a cavernous room where the photo shoot took place. Although having learned to crawl, A. was still a little unsteady on the sitting up stakes and there is a great shoot of him looking over the back of a chair sitting back to front (with a big smile), where my restraining hand can just be seen at the foot of the photo.

I had not expected to be in any of the photos myself so was (very) causually dressed in a scruffy T-Shirt and unshaven. However, the photographer took a sequence of shots of me holding A. wtih me, somewhat ruffianly, looking on.

We subsequent had some photos done at the American Club next to where we lived in Hong Kong. This was before V. arrived and whilst A. and E. looked good , I looked somewhat uncomfortable (almost as uncomfortable as I looked in the family potraits my Mother and Father insited we all did in around 2000 but hat is a whole different post!).

In any event, we needed some shots with V. in hence the latest foray into the world of professional photography. Whilst eye-wateringly expensive, they certainy adorne our walls.