This is an outtake from our attempt to take some holiday pictures. In photographing it there were two key challenges. First, what instrument to give Claire that she might convincingly hold. Second, what instrument to give Melanie that she might convincingly hold. Claire was easy - anything that goes in the mouth would be an instant hit. A recorder worked. Melanie was a little harder. I handed her the banjo and asked her to hold it. We went through a few tries before it was facing forward with the fretboard to her left, but we eventually worked it out. Next year we improve on her left hand position so that it appears she may even be playing a chord. In the end our picture attempt worked out pretty gosh darn well.
The result: our Midwest Jamboree Christmas Photo. If this were the sixties we'd probably get our own sitcom and a bus.
Good first try.
This is nice, you're getting the idea. Another touch might be to get some flannel shirts and a baseball cap for Claire. BTW there's no shotgun anywhere in this picture.
Happy New Year,
John