After my terrible ordeal with Wal*Mart's Portrait Studio last year, I knew I wouldn't be going back there this time around for my son's Birthday/Christmas portraits. I considered Target, the studio inside Babies 'R' Us and Sears, but then...I received a flyer in the mail for Portrait Innovations. They had a nice deal going and it looked like a nice place, so I thought I'd give it a try. It had to be better than Wal*Mart, right?

It was! I called to just ask a few questions and the lady spent 20-minutes with me, explaining how everything would work. I was already convinced because they were taking their time to answer my call, even though I could tell in the background that they were busy.

I wanted my son's birthday theme to be Fireman - 'cause he totally loves being a fireman these days. My mom has one of those big firetruck ride-on toys, so I borrowed it for the shoot. I was a little nervous about hauling that huge thing in there, but they were very accomodating and didn't mind at all! From the moment we walked through the door, I felt comfortable with the location - the one we went to was located in the shopping center at Arlington Highlands. The kiddo was excited to find a Lego Table to play at while waiting!

They called us back pretty quickly and as soon as we darkened the door to the little studio area, my son freaked out...I DON'T WANT THEM TO TAKE MY PICTURE!!! Oh dear. I got him calmed down, assured him he could play with the Legos more later and the guy helped to distract him with a football. The boy, being...well, the boy...refused to smile, of course. Instead he just opened his mouth or growled at the cameraman. At one point, the guy goes "Ok, then, mommy is gonna have to come tickle you" and instead of the hoped-for smile...he got up and ran away. Yeah, that's not gonna work. But the guy was very patient and understanding and just kept trying different things till he relaxed and started (mostly) following instructions. After the first couple of backgrounds for Christmas, we moved to a different room and I changed him into his fireman costume for birthday pictures. When we got back, there was another guy there to help entertain. This guy was great! He would throw a ball and have it hit him in the head and he would kind of squeal...this, of course, made my son laugh hysterically! It definitely made for some fun, candid laughing photos of the boy. I wanted to hug that guy! Haha.

After the shoot, the kiddo went back to playing with the Lego Table and I had the difficult task of narrowing down which of the shots I wanted. They had all come out pretty great, so it was hard. I narrowed it down to my favorite 6 poses. I felt like I was taking forever, but the guy again was so patient and understanding with me, I didn't feel rushed or anything like that. I ended up spending more than I planned to, but the pictures were soooo great, I couldn't help it! I let the kiddo play at the table with some other kids for just a little bit and the guy came over and (here's the best part) handed me the portraits! Seriously, I waited like 5-10 minutes, and had my photos read to take home. No waiting weeks for them to get back, then having to go pick them up. I TOOK THEM HOME THAT DAY! Brilliant!

I would highly recommend this place to anyone for your family/kids. They are fabulous! And I got a CD with ALL of the pictures the guy took to take home and use as I like. Hooray!