The Ugly Wuglies

This is my very favorite picture of...ME! (Note the introspective finger position - I am contemplating world dominion, no doubt) My parents, from time to time, felt they needed to record our growth as children, so they took pictures of us. The individual portraits tended to be better pictures, but the group photos came out so badly, so frequently, that we have dubbed them, over the years, as The Ugly Wuglies (a term that was coined by my sister and I in respect to Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters).

This is an early Ugly Wugly Group Photo, and we're still cute enough to somewhat overcome the abysmal photography. (OMG, could we be less harmonious in our color scheme? My brother's sweater is tee-iny and the blue sneakers really don't make my outfit. WTF is going on here, MOM?!)

Yet another shot, a few years later, and the worst part is the flash blow out (oh, and the continuing bad composition - how any of us developed artistic tendencies is a bit of a miracle, really. And if you doubt me, well you just haven't seen the nautical theme of my mother's living room - living proof that taste does skip generations.)


This picture was taken by a professional (go ahead, fall out of your chair and roll around laughing at the thought of someone calling themselves a professional with a picture like this to their credit). Evidently, we were so squirmy at this shoot, the photographer promised us ice cream to get us to sit still. So we sat, but like other traumas in my life ( eg; having my tonsils out, for no frickin reason) the ice cream was not forthcoming. Ice Cream Denial has really messed with my head, let me tell you.

This one was taken by my grandmother, at my father's graduation. My mother was very excited, and is particularly cute on this day. I cannot say the same of the rest of us - dig that Morticia Addams hair on my sister, along with the 70s smock thing going on. My own outfit, made by my mother out of (horrors!!) polyester, has to be the shortest damn dress I've ever worn - luckily my ass hasn't reach its legendary proportions at this time. My younger brother is giving his trademark toothy squint, but it does appear that his other trademark, his zipper, is closed, for this shot, at least.

We had this picture taken for Father's Day, about 1980. It is probably the very best picture ever taken of us. We were trying to emulate the stiff, serious poses of the tintype period; all except for my sister, the drama major - strike a pose girl! Even though the costumes are nowhere near accurate, it still has a great flavor, and sepia tone makes my skin look good!

And finally, another professional shot, taken at my wedding. My sister would have smiled more, but she did have two little kids running around at the periphery of this shot, like wild animals, so it was hard to focus. Other than that, its one of the better pictures of us - mostly because Dad didn't take it.