Anyone else get those Sears family portraits when their family was younger? I can’t actually remember if my childhood family did it — gonna stop scrunching up my face trying to picture it, I’m starting to get a headache. I do remember taking our kids when they were itty bits to the local Sears photographer for one family portrait.

If you haven’t been…well, it’s about the sort of pressure cooker you’d think it is. Small and stuffy space, limited time slot, a photographer who’s paid to crank families through trying furiously to capture that one magic shot that’ll make you get prints to give to all your family members. That whole session is a blur (surprise, surprise). I mostly remember feeling hotter as the time ticked down and the kids got squirrelier. I do think we ended up with a decent photo of the kids but darned if I know where to find that now.

I feel about Sears photography like I feel about Lifetouch. Between a lifetime of school photos as a student, staff photos as a teacher, and being a parent volunteer on school photo day when I tried corralling and beautifying all the kids in all the places…well, I’ve got a little PTSD when it comes to assembly line photography in school gyms. It’s a lot. It’s A LOT a lot, y’know?

Say cheese!

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “portrait.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!