My handsome pumpky-pie

We wanted some professional pictures taken of the family, so we made an appointment at JCPenney Portraits for two weekends ago. It was definitely an experience and it made me realize that I need to put a lot more thought and research into where we go for portraits in the future. Even though I really enjoy how these pictures turned out, I think that we could have gotten a lot more quality photos and had a much better experience somewhere else.

The first thing that really bothered me about our experience is that it felt extremely rushed. We brought so many outfits for Kellen because we weren't sure which colors would work best for Kellen's coloring or which outfits would work best with what Aaron and I were wearing. I figured that since these people were professionals, they could look at our selection and tell us what to choose. The only help we got was some from some chic at the check-in counter, who looked at all of the clothes for 5 seconds and pulled out 2 outfits. I didn't even realize that the striped outfit Kellen was wearing would make the strawberry blond in his hair look bright orange, and I'm sure if the photographer or the lady at the check-in counter would've thought about it, they would've told us to put a different outfit on him. Not that I have a huge problem with the way the pictures with this outfit turned out, I just think they could have chosen something that would've highlighted his bright blue eyes or porcelain skin instead of orange-y hair. Also, the check-in lady pulled out blue pants for him to wear with his long-sleeved onesie without realizing (or caring??) that the sweater I had on had black stripes. Grrr.


The second problem was the pricing - I chose JCP because I thought their prices were competitive and I had a coupon that I wanted to use. I was wrong. When we showed her the coupon after the session, she kind of scoffed and made us feel like idiots for only wanting that many photos. She then proceeded to go through all of the expensive options and pretty much pressured us into buying this whole deal w/ a 2-year member's club, tons of portraits, greeting cards and the disc. I went into it thinking that we'd at most just buy the disc and make copies somewhere else. Aaron caved and went with the whole deal after finding out that the disc alone cost $150. Are you fricken kidding me? You took a total of like 20 pictures and you're going to charge $150 for a disc???!!!


Lastly, some of the photos look like my 4 year old niece took them (I did not post them on here because they were not blog-worthy); I would expect more from someone who has been doing this job for years. Clearly, my not-so-nice experience was not just the fault of the photographer, but also a JCP-wide issue. I'm assuming the photographers don't get paid well and have back-to-back appointments all day this time of year. Still, I expected more and I will be sure to seek out another place for our next experience.


Okay, so here are the pictures I like. Isn't my little man just the cutest thing this side of the Mississippi?!?

I like this family photo because it shows how happy our little man is. I do not like the placement of my hands though. I wish the photographer would've told me to tuck my hands behind Kellen, sort of like Aaron did. I know, I'm nit picky...

Kellen is so happy and it's so easy to make him smile! His smile melts my heart every time!!!

I think Kellen looks adorable in this picture! I, on the other hand, don't look so hot. Notice the navy blue pants against the black stripes on my sweater...

This picture is super cute of my boys! I love how Kellen's hair matches Aaron's beard.

I really like this picture, but it's totally off-center. Am I just being completely picky, or do y'all see this too?

Kellen is just the cutest, most adorable, happy baby in the world. I love that 99% of his smiles are wide open like this.

Notice the wide-open smile! I've also noticed that his tongue has a little bend to it. Cuteness.

Such a cutie-pie. I love how his ears stick out :)