Picture day is a big deal. Not always so much for the students, but for the parents. It’s hard to watch kids grow up year after year. As they get bigger and smarter, it’s like time is flying by at the speed of light while you blink your eyes.
Picture day is often the only way that parents will be able to get professional photos taken of their children, in which they’re forced to crack a smile rather than sneer at the camera.
Hey, sometimes you’ve got to take every opportunity you’re given when you’re a parent!
When Laurel Boone Hutsell sent her son Carter to school for picture day this year, she thought she had it all figured out.
Luckily for her, Carter is a very well-mannered boy. He didn’t argue about what to wear with his mom. In fact, they had quite the logical discussion about the kind of shirt he should wear, since they’ve had issues with blending into the background in previous years.
When he wore the grey shirt, the backdrop was grey. The year he wore a dark turquoise… same thing! What are the odds?
Just when they thought they’d figured out how to solve the problem, it backfired.
On the morning of picture day, Laurel showed her son how to brush his hair to the side with his fingers, and made sure he had his smile down perfectly.
“‘Don’t squint your eyes so much. Look more natural. Smile like someone just said something funny. Not like you’re scared that someone is sneaking up behind you.’ Lots of smiling practice. He’s adorable. I can watch him smile at me all day long.”
Everything seemed perfect. But when Carter got home, the first thing he said to his mom was:
“‘Mom, I shouldn’t have worn the green shirt for pictures. It will blend in with the green screen they used.’”
Then, Laurel said:
“‘They used a green screen? What?! I probably should have read some fine print. Maybe they will be ok.’”
After a few days passed, Laurel gets an email from the school. This is what his pictures looked like.
Well, there’s one thing for sure…
His smile was certainly perfect!
“As soon as I saw the proofs, I had to look again. Out loud I said to myself ‘Oh my gosh. He was right. That’s exactly what happened.’ I could not stop laughing. Each picture was better than the next. The flags? That autumn scene with the fence? I really couldn’t believe my handsome boy’s head and arms were just floating there. I showed my husband and we got such a good laugh from it. And guess what? His smile and hair are PERFECT! HA!”
Good thing everyone had a sense of humor about the situation. Both Laurel and her husband were able to get a good laugh out of the green screen mishap.
Even beyond just a few laughs, this little mistake will provide a happy memory for years and years to come.
“Now a few days have gone by and we are having so much fun with this. I really can’t believe it’s all happening! I have received tons of messages from other moms, thanking me for sharing this #momfail and for making them laugh. Lots of people are commenting about how handsome my son is and how much this has brightened their day. This is a memory and a story we’ll have to tell for a lifetime.”
The best photo by far, though, is clearly this one:
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