The Annual Halloween Picture

I've mentioned before that it's become something of a tradition to take a family photo on Halloween, just prior to trick or treating.  This is usually a simple endeavor, because my parents come to hang out and hand out candy while we go out about the neighborhood.  But this year, the folks decided to spend the weekend visiting my sister and her girls, so we were on our own.

I was hoping to snag a neighbor to take a few shots, but my plans for the evening just weren't destined to work out.  A friend invited us over for dinner and candy mongering in her neighborhood, which was lovely, but I intended to get home around 6:30 when our area gets going and we didn't hit the driveway until almost 8:30.  So there were no neighbors in sight, or even many trick or treaters, really.  Sabrina was already faded, with it starting to get chilly and her just recovering from a bout of strep, so I knew I only had a small window.  But!  I had brought out the tripod earlier in the day and tried a few test shots with the camera timer, so I knew what I was doing.  Easy peasy, right?

It would have been.  It should have been.  But it was seriously dark at this point, and do you think I could get the flash to work?  I took shot after shot of us completely in shadow, getting more and more frustrated that the #&@% flash wouldn't go off.  Everyone was irritated with me.  I just wantted my picture!  Was that asking so much?

Apparently.  I looked up the camera manual, and followed their directions, and still couldn't get a consistent flash.  Every once in awhile, I'd be trying something with just 1 person in the frame, and it would work, then we'd all run in and set up again, and... no flash. Grr.

Finally, the thing that worked was turning off the porch light, which didn't seem like it would give enough light to kick the flash to off, but it did.  I got 2 shots before the mutiny.  Oh well.  At least I have something to document the night.  Not shown: the flop sweat I was working after 20 minutes of annoyance.