You Did What? Weird, Wild, and Wacky Things We Do in the Name of Creativity

Years ago I toured a volcano in Hawaii. I remember the park ranger told us that the lava didn't move that fast and that the only people who had gotten killed in the recent eruptions had been photographers. Many professional photographers will go to any extreme to get the best possible photo. While most scrapbookers wouldn't risk their life just to get a picture, many do some weird, wild, and wacky things in their quest to be creative.

Many of us are familiar with the story from Heidi_scraps. Her daughter had a potty-training accident of the poopy variety. Rather than run for the paper towels and cleaning supplies, Mom ran for the camera. There's nothing like being spontaneous to capture the moment.

However, spontaneity isn't always possible. Many of us are at our most wild and wacky when staging photos.

One event that comes to mind was from a blizzard we had when my son was a one-year-old. After the snow and wind stopped, I dressed him up warmly, stuck him in the snow up to his chest, and quickly snapped a photo before he started to cry. Although I felt a little guilty, the photo was adorable.

Here's a similar story from Tricia:

"I personally had my son (then age 4) dump a bowl of clean, cooked spaghetti noodles on his sister's head (age 11 months) during a photo shoot. Their dad is a chef and I wanted a great photo for a Father's Day gift. Fantastic picture, totally worth it (For the record: my daughter stopped crying seconds later when I handed her a Popsicle so I'm not THAT mean)."

She also tells a story of a friend who provides a clothing schedule to the people she's traveling with on trips to Disneyland. The schedule lets them know what color they should wear each day so that they all match for the photos. For example, on the first day, everyone wears blue, on the second day everyone wears red, and so on. The story goes that one morning she sent her own mother back to her hotel room to change because she was wearing the wrong color. I'm sure her pictures always look great.

Jennifer Sizemore took it one step further in staging a scrapbook layout: she actually purchased clothing for her son because she wanted to paper piece the image.

Of course, scrappers can be quite wild and wacky in their choice of embellishments, too. Some embellishments that I've heard of, but haven't used myself, include chewed gum, hair, cat whiskers, trash, trash bag ties, feathers from a dead bird, a dried umbilical cord, and pregnancy tests.

Whether it's being spontaneous, staging a "candid" photo, or choosing an unusual embellishment, it may be time for you to break out of your routine and try something weird, wild, or wacky. I'm sure you'll have fun and don't forget to post your results to the Scrapjazz gallery.