Want to know the story behind this somewhat-unconventional self portrait?

I'm a member of the fun mamarazzi photography site We Picture {this} and our theme for May was "moms/self portrait." I had stellar intentions of nabbing a fancy-schmancy self portrait where I looked all hot and glamorous. Heh. Should have known it wasn't going to happen.

See what really happened: Ok, I voted for this theme the very second it was proposed. I thought it was an AWESOME idea. (Still do.) But then, when it came time to actually doing it... oh man I was totally paralyzed and coming up dry. So today, I was determined to at least try. I plunked the camera on the tripod in the backyard and was going to take a few test shots (to kind of figure out the lighting, ya know?) before getting the amazing beauty shot that I pictured in my head. I even put on lipstick — ooolala— although I didn't change out of my trusty Puma tennis shoes, so I guess it wasn't slated to be super fancy from the get go.

Anyhow, I got two immediate test shots that so perfectly epitomize how the girls and I spend many of our summer days that I'm just going with them instead. In the first pic, Ro and Ree were up to no good (as usual) and having tremendous fun doing it. They were mixing ice, water, paper, and chalk to make a horrendous mess on top of the sand table and on themselves. I just had to laugh as they explained their complex "recipe" to me:


And then, right after I pressed the remote trigger the second time (my remote setup is slow and the camera frequently takes a second or two to respond), Ree accidentally dumped an entire glass of murky, chalky, swampy gray ice water all down the front of Ro's dress and Ro (who is nothing if not passionate about her shoes) irately squealed "Reeeeeeeeeeee! You ruined my sandals!!!!" She was so hoppin' mad, it was hysterical.



Both pics: Nikon D300, Nikon 35mm f/1.8 lens, manual mode, in the shade on a hot bright day, 1/250 at f5.0, ISO 320, no flash, with one step of processing in Lightroom (I clicked on Rebecca's Cream Wash with Chocolate preset, then called it good and posted because I had to run back outside to see why the girls were so quiet)

Well, that's pretty much what I look like on a typical day as Ro and Ree's mama. Not glamorous, but almost always smiling, and certainly never bored.