ways to avoid dancing with the stars

My sister and her boyfriend (mildly acceptable by the way) are from Seattle and have been staying with us for a few days. Last night after I got my kids to bed I came downstairs and was waiting for my wife’s arrival from a business trip. I came down and found my sister and boyfriend squatting on MY couch with MY remote control in hand. This is the same way I found them the previous two nights as well. I shook it off and was checking email on my laptop when my sister said “Dancing with the Stars is on at 9pm tonight”. Oh yippee, you mean I get to watch it two nights in a row? What a treat and it isn’t even Halloween.

So, I shifted to Plan B. I said “Hey, do you guys want me to take your picture in my studio?” Traci jumped at the opportunity and I was feeling relieved that we might avoid having to watch that show. We decided rather than setting up lighting against a backdrop that we would try and use some natural backgrounds in my house. I set up lights in several places and got different colored backgrounds from the walls as well as a blanket that was on the couch. We found some interesting shots.

This was one of my favorites that they liked as well. I was trying to get some tight shots that expressed emotion as well as being relaxed. Surprisingly, Traci and Steve were both pretty relaxed and for a good portion of the shoot and they interacted as if I weren’t there. Those make for great photographs. This shot would be one that I might suggest to someone, but this just happened and it worked better than if I suggested it.

It is a bit of a tragedy that I do not know who got kicked off Dancing with the Stars last night. If it were up to me I would have voted all the celebrities (if you can call them that) off and kept the pros. Glad Traci and Steve had it taped back home and wanted to take some pictures.