pretending to be a professional photographer

Okay, okay.  We all know that I am no professional photographer.  And, neither is Aaron. We know that. We've never claimed to be good at the whole "snapping photo situation", so it's no wonder that we did a crummy job trying to capture the cuteness of Benson these first few weeks.

And, really, I probably should have tried to find someone legit to capture the magic of Benson as a new baby, but I blame it on the move.  We don't know any legit photographers in the area and we were spoiled to have so many talented friends/photographers in San Antonio... so alas... we tried to wing it.

Here are the first few failed attempts.  Things get better at the end, so don't give up entirely on us.

and yes, he is as LOOOOONG as he looks.

the token tiny foot picture. ha!

stretchin' out.

And these next ones are my favorite. hA! Look how uncomfortable he looks!  And those little bird legs!  haha!  Every time I look at these, I die laughing.

These ones aren't much better.  Sorry, Benson!

okay, I think part of the creepiness of all those photos above, is that we put him in un-natural positions and he was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.  And, the lighting was weird.  These next shots are a little better.  Swaddled and sleeping is his favorite game.  Makes sense!

So, we tried again.

And do you remember these pictures?? with baby Calvin?  Yes, my friend, Jen, took those beauts.  As I was looking at these next pictures we took, I couldn't help but be reminded of the ones she took.  Let's do a small comparison below:

here's the one I took... (Tillie was in an old twirly slip messing around in the bedroom, so I let her be in the pictures too.)

here's the one that jen took a few two years ago with baby Calvin.

here's a side by side.  Is that funny or what?!

One that Jen took:

one I took: 

jen took this next one...

and then, obviously, I took these next two.  

Is that ironic or what?!  Obviously, her photos are much better and edited so beautifully... but pretty sweet to see the difference of a few years.

Since the lighting was so great and Matilda wanted to play outside (in that same ripped slip!) we took a few more shots.  Some of these are with our good camera, but the bulk of them were shot with Aaron's iphone.  I think he did an awesome job of capturing the magic of our 4.5 year old Tillie.

Love that crazy girl.

Annnd, here are the best ones of Baby Benson.  We may not be legit, but we sure got lucky!

a looooong swaddled sleepy boy.  a little wonky photo, I know, but I wanted to show you how long he is!

sweet baby Benson.

and there you have it.  sometimes you just get lucky when you click the shutter.

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and other times, you don't!  (here's the money shot AGAIN for your viewing pleasure.)