Oops!

I had no idea my previous post would be taken seriously! I feel chagrined that I really fooled people. I am honored that you all think my photos are that good! Here's the backstory:

We were on vacation at my parents' beach house last week. I had made the sailor suit to do beach photos of Andy- as my ideas usually do, this grew to: oh, let's do Davy too, so I bought him a white polo and navy shorts, having been told in no uncertain terms that 11 is too old to wear a sailor suit for photos- I don't care what they did in 1900- this is 2016. Ok, ok, I get it. Well, the polos at Walmart were so cheap, why not get them for everyone and do a few of the whole family. Idea growing...

Then I think, my Mom and Dad are here, too. Why not all 9 of us, while I'm at it?

You've got to know that my family tolerates my photo-taking. They are good sports, but we all laugh about how Mom has to have her pictures. "How many do you take in a year?" (8000 in a regular year, 12K with a new baby). "How do you get so many good pictures?" (when you take 8000 you are bound to have a few winners). But I digress...

So, it took a few nights for everyone to agree to go barefoot (LOL), find some khaki shorts, figure out sunset timing, etc. 

July 4 was our night! We all went to the beach and it was one of those rare projects where the stars align. Everyone looked great good human. The lighting was good- no bugs- no people around.

I took 70 photos. Most were excellent! 

My whole family was happy with my "shoot". This has never really happened before. So many praises- "good idea on the neutral theme" "didn't the sunset look great?" "let's get these printed."

The next day, my Mom said "let's take Andy tonight and do the sailor suit." In the interest of full disclosure, I have to add that this was partly because she loves seeing cute pictures, partly because she wanted to see my get the pictures I wanted, but mostly because I said "no rush- I can take them by the lake at home" and she freaked at the thought of her precious grandson being subjected to embarrassment in "sissy clothes" less than 100 miles from home.

So, on July 5, we went back to the scene of the crime uhh...photo shoot. Not as good conditions: lighting was a little bright (shadows) and we were eaten alive by bugs. But still, I got 36 pictures in 8 minutes. No kidding. Many of them were adorable.

So, fast forward to yesterday. I was doing my "clean for 15 minutes/take a 15 minute break" and I decided to play with the photos. I made the spoof newspaper shot and sent it to my Mom, Dad, and Hubby as a joke. Surely they would know it wasn't real. When my phone rang almost immediately, I wondered if I might have fooled my Mom? Yes, she was very upset. "How did the paper get his picture?" She is even more private than Hubby. "Mom, it was just a joke!" Then Hubby called- he was not fooled. But it was the fancy dishes that gave it away. He knew I wouldn't be sitting with a paper and a fancy breakfast!

So then I started making other joke photos. "Look, Mom, Andy is on billboard!" "Andy made it on the news." "Andy's pictures are in a museum."

Then I thought "Oh, this would be a funny blog post!" 

And you  know what happened next...it went viral!!

So, how can you fool your family (and perhaps the world?) Go to PhotoFunia! If facebook doesn't waste half your day, this will!!