Sometimes The Side Effect Is The Best Effect

For years Dan was the family photographer.  His eye and his creativity along with his self-taught expertise made for some pretty phenomenal pictures.  And he didn't just take the family photo, he was also the roving reporter and got amazing candid shots as well as tons of fun groupings and cameos.

Here are a few examples:

  

He even captured Beth making order of the chaos for the family picture.  Who knew then that she would be the amazing professional that she is today.

 

And here's the finished product where he got himself in, looking as if he'd been sitting there the whole time.

And if Dan hadn't been there taking pictures I wouldn't be laughing today at how hard we were laughing that day.

And when I say the side effect is often the best it's because only Dan could have seen that the most important parts of the following pictures would be what was going on in the back ground.

The perspective in the following pictures blows me away.  I mean I can't get over how cute little Ethan was in his pink glasses.  I really can't.  But what I love the most is how all those people watching him couldn't get over how cute he was either.  There's so much love and happiness in the background of these pictures it's overwhelming.  And I would have just captured the obvious.

Now that's creativity and a magic eye.  Beth has it.  And Dan has it.  We're lucky to have Beth take our family pictures.  But we need Dan too.  He fell out of the habit when he was deployed for so many Christmases.  This year I'm hoping we'll have Dan AND his awesome camera and his amazing perspectives back in their rightful roving reporter roles.