MMMMMMM Pictures....

Tonight I got to endure one of the more unfortunate parts of singledom. The Church Pictoral Directory. The time has come for our congregation to make a new photo directory...It's no secret that I love the camera, and I was actually looking forward to getting my picture taken. I was scheduled for the last time slot of the day, 8pm. I carefully straightened my hair...afterall, this picture was not just about me, but about the historical files of the church that I work for...40 years from now I don't want someone looking through the archives and thinking how unkempt their DCO was!

I walked in with my black dress and leopard print heels, feeling quite confident...The photographer told me no one would see my shoes...I asked if I could take them off and hold them so they'd make it in the shot...it was the best part about my outfit! For my craziness she allowed me a few extra poses (none of which showed my shoes...boo) The details of the photo shoot can only truly be appreciated by hearing me retell it verbally...but what was most amazing and, if I'm completely honest, humiliating was the portion after the photo shoot. They bring you in a room with a big set up of pictures, and a computer to view your proofs. She started flipping through my shots and there were a couple really adorable pictures of myself...naturally none of those were photos that you could use as the picture in the directory, for those I had to choose between the boring shots with the grey background. (double boo)

Then the sales pitch came...of course there are all sorts of packages I could choose from. I knew I wasn't going to buy anything but I didn't have the heart to stop her. Then she pulled up a layout where I could have three photos in one frame. Usually these are the frames where the first picture is of the parents, the last picture is of the children, and the middle picture is a lovely photo of the whole family. Since it was just me in the photos, she flipped through them all and showed me what it would look like if I bought the frame housing three different poses of me. It's true that there are few people who enjoy surrounding themselves with self portraits as much as I do...but to see a big frame with room for lots of people, that only had lots of Rachel in it was just a little bizarre.

I told my mom about it when I was leaving the church...I was pretty amused. Her words were this..."I can't believe you didn't get it...you've shown amazing restraint." I think I'll save my 42.95 and take my own self portraits with my camera...cheaper and more fun!