Family Photo Competition Entries

This was a wonderful competition for me.  It was so nice seeing all the different families.  And it was super informative hearing what people love about each photo.

I’ll let you look at all the photos and I’ll announce the winner tomorrow.  Keeping you in suspense- it’s what I’m all about.

From Farmer Gal :

I do love this photo because: a) it is of my sister’s family, whom I love; and b) she asked me to take their Christmas photo this year — a little taste of what it would be like to be a ‘real’ photographer — and I think it turned out pretty good!

From my Mom:

We moved from Wisconsin to Arizona 24 years ago when our daughters were 4 and 2 years old.  During the first several years, we’d make an annual trip to the Grand Canyon, often over the long Thanksgiving weekend.  Once we took my mother-in-law, another time we met coworkers and a third time we had a winter retreat there with families from our church.  It’s amazing at how vivid the memories still are – park rangers leading us on hikes along the rim, teaching us how the canyon was formed;  a park ranger re-enacting the 1869 expedition of John Wesley Powell through the canyon; viewing a movie at the IMAX just outside the park that triggered a dreadful evening of nausea for both girls; playing Scattergories in the lodge after a snowball fight; spotting deer walking to our room from the restaurant.  And then time passed and other things replaced these family visits to the Grand Canyon.  In 2004, our youngest daughter got married and moved to Finland.  She and her husband made their first trek back to Arizona at Thanksgiving time and the family trip was revived!  We again attended ranger talks, ate in the lodge dining room (our daughters’ treat!), played Trivial Pursuit and asked a tourist to snap our expanded grown-up family.  A priceless weekend.

and…

This was submitted both by my Mom and my Aunt Kathy.

My mother-in-law was a kind, mild-mannered, frail woman who never spoke curse words or made crude gestures…  until she was goaded into it by her adult children.  Her beaming facial expression shows she knew she was being naughty!!  This picture was then turned into a Christmas card and only sent to a handful of friends and relatives who were guaranteed to understand the irony.   It was then displayed at her funeral and became an instant hit.  Many other friends and relatives wondered why they weren’t on the mailing list.

From Denise:

I chose it because I love the dad laughing – there were a lot from this series but this one is one of my favorites.  If you spent any time with this family at all, you’d know instantly that the father LOVES his family.  He’s madly in love with his kids and his wife and you can totally tell how much he enjoys being with them in this photo.  My favorite family photos are those that show emotion.

From Kara:

I took this picture this November of my friend Abbey’s family, and I love it because it is so very indicative of each person in their family.  Their daughter K is the self described boss of the family, and was thrilled to walk IN FRONT of everyone else.  Their son D was constantly making that squishy lipped face at that time, and it cracked Abbey & I up every time he did it.  I love how Abbey’s grinning at her boys, it perfectly reflects how much she loves her hubby and son.  And Ben, always a little embarrassed having to be in front of the camera, is giving a very real smile but looking down, exactly as I would’ve expected him to.  I loved it because it exactly captured the personality of each family member at that time.

and…

The second picture is of my family at our DHC Christmas party 08.  It actually is hanging on our bedroom wall because Shiloh and I laugh hysterically every time we see it (yes, Shiloh is dressed as Santa there, and yep, Allie knows it and that didn’t make the man in the red suit any less terrifying!)  The series of pictures I have from that would work great as a collage because Allie squirms first one direction then the other before submitting to the fairly front on cry shot that I sent you.

From Nicole:

This was taken by the wonderful Denise Karis.  I kick myself daily over my difficulties with severe procrastination and never actually purchasing a print of this pic before she deleted everything off of her computer.  This is no longer a picture of our complete family, but still one of my favorites.  Even though Jacob was being a crazy kid that way with no nap and poo in his diaper, we still managed to tackle him down for a photo…tum tum hanging out and all!  He obviously has more important things to be concerned with than taking a picture with mommy and daddy in this picture.  But, that’s his life:  busy, busy, busy.

From Jen Lum (who is an awesome AWESOME freelance graphic designer- who desperately needs a website showcasing her stuff, so that I can advertise it here when she enters photo competitions):

This was from a quick-and-dirty photo shoot of my ex-boyfriend’s family. They were in town for an afternoon last Easter and wanted some family photos taken, so I took some quick shots of them before they left. I’m generally a fan of the candid sort of photojournalistic style, but I thought this one turned out nice because the expressions are genuine.

From Hanna:

Their first family photo!

From Agi:

Taken this Christmas.  I love it, because I know how hard it was to gather all those people and put into one photo   One lives abroad, one at the other part of the country… And I remember how hard it was to find the perfect position for the camera, and how much we fooled around with it :):) And how every “unit” of the family found its place and how people hug eachother though we really are not the hugging type…

From Melissa:

This photo was taken during a professional maternity photoshoot when I was 32 weeks pregnant and I just love it b/c of the black and white effect, and the “zoomed” look as if you’re looking thru a tunnel into our lives, and then the fact that it’s about the addition to our family and it looks sexy, we’re not smiling or looking into the camera, it’s about us.  I just love it and it’s framed in our house b/c I love it so much!

and…

This second photo was taken at Owen’s first birthday party back in the US.  I love it b/c it’s sentimental – both sides of our families were there, it was the first time most of them had seen him since we left for Finland, everyone was just so excited for him, for us being back and I absolutely love big group shots, I think it’s so memorable having everyone in the picture b/c you go back months or years later and can be like – “oh yeah, all of your grandparents made it to your first birthday party” or “look who was there, oh they haven’t changed a bit”.  And even though everyone is not looking at the camera, it’s memories, that one moment when we were ALL together.

From Erik Whitehill (an insanely talented director and composer- who also needs a website, so I can advertise his music/musicals here):

This is my sister and I near Evergreen, Colorado in the mid 1980′s.  I have always loved it.

From Sheralyn:

It’s my favorite picture of my grandparents on their wedding day…and they’re family, right?

From Janet:

Fab photos her mom took with her fab camera before it broke when Janet was small.

And you’re right, Janet.  The light on that last photo IS insane.  I think it’s my favorite photo of all that were submitted.

So, now that they’re all posted, I’ll randomly select a winner tomorrow- each person gets one entry no matter how many photos were submitted.  So, no worries!  It’s still fair!