foto follies, part 1...

it is very clear from my last post that 'miss katherine' and 'mr. steve' martin (photographer) became very well acquainted following her birth... yes, i took katherine at least every three months to MARTIN STUDIO OF PHOTOGRAPHY to have her pictures taken. it was mutually a gratifying experience for all parties involved...

until katherine turned one.



at the age of one, i wanted a large portrait of her to hang in our formal living room. so, two weeks before her first birthday, we went to see mr. steve.



the sitting was a disaster!!!



katherine had been walking for three months, and she certainly wasn't going to stop for mr. steve to capture a picture. after an hour and a half of hard labor and graying hair , mr. steve was only able to get a few shots. he told me he wasn't sure he had gotten the shot that he knew i wanted.



when the proofs were ready, mrs. campbell (martin's receptionist) called to say that i could drop by the studio and have a look at the the proofs. i did. steve was right... there were really none there from which to choose
(NO FAULT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER!!!).



but, i had my heart set on the perfect year-old 20x24 portrait!!!



so, much to mr. steve's chagrin (i'm sure, lol;), i rescheduled...



i came armed for the second, portrait sitting bearing one of katherine's favorite CARL books, some blocks, and a box of raisins. we were ready... i had even given a pep talk to my year-old bundle of pure joy and reiterated several times (about a thousand)that if she were good for mr. steve that we would stop for ice cream.



a good girl=ice cream... a good girl=ice cream... a good girl=ice cream...



mr. steve had the studio ready for us to get started as soon as we came through the studio door. snap, snap, snap... things were going great. mr. steve had given katherine some little dot stickers to stick in her books. she was actually sitting still, and i was beaming... until he said it, "these are some really cute shots, dani. but, these aren't what you really want for your portrait; is it!!?!?"



no, it was not... the portrait i wanted didn't include books and stickers:/



"we're going to have to do something different, here," he continued (with his "deer-in-the-headlights" look i remembered from the previous sitting).



"ok. " i thought... "the raisins!!!" i pulled out the box of raisins while steve's assistant grabbed a queen-ann stool upon which to sit my little dear...



i placed her on the stool and preceded to shake a few raisins into my hand. one at a time, she poked 4 or 5 into her mouth. mr. steve and i both knew we had a very small window to get "THE SHOT"...



so, i quickly backed away from her, and steve started shooting... then abruptly stopped.



this isn't it, dani:[!!!
i can't get her to smile with a mouth-full of raisins.
i obviously hadn't thought ahead...



steve approached katherine and knelt down in front of her. he told her to finish chewing and to swallow the raisins (in baby talk, GOD love him...)



it was then that she did it...



she took one of his hands in both of hers and spat all the raisin encasements as well as slobber into his hand.



there was a second where i, to this day, believe all henderson stood still.



with a hand full of what looked like chewing tobacco spit, steve turned to me (i was not breathing) :0



my immediate thougt was, "grab katherine and run like hell!!!"
HA!!!



but, steve quietly arose and left the room to wash his hand. i wasn't sure he was going to return. however, he did. with a bright red face, he quietly snap, snap, snapped a few more poses. and, with that, he proclaimed the end of the sitting.



"good girl!!!" i tongue-in-cheek smiled at katherine.



"ice keem!!!" katherine exclaimed back to me (sporting the smile steve had been laboring to capture)...



i grabbed all of katherine's things, apologized several times (about a thousand) for the unfortunate, raisin incident, thanked mr. steve, and quickly exited the studio curtsying as i did so.



the picture i chose...







was the one with a mouth FULL of raisins.



love and blessings,

dani xx



...to be continued...