Kuso Arisu - Out of the Loop

Today, we went to have professional photos taken at a local studio called Studio Alice. Now, I call it Stupido Alice. It took Suk about a week to catch on to that subtle joke.

Anyway, I was planning to scan a family photo for our Christmas letter, but I also wanted to frame a nice family photo for my mom. Anyway, I found out why it is WAY WAY better to just have photos taken at JCPenneys or Target. You'll save yourself a lot of hassle and money.

Last summer, on a whim, we got Ailin's photo taken at JCPenneys and they turned out really nice. I paid about $60 bucks for several copies in a variety of sizes and poses. Included in that price was a cool collage one that they put together using 5 different poses. Oh my - I did not realize the deal we were getting at that price.

For Christmas, I insisted that we go to Studio Alice, and I made the appointment. Suk seemed like he didn't care either way, but was willing to go along with it for my sake. I had never been to Studio Alice before, but 3 different Japanese friends recommended this particular store because the "photographer" was so good! I had seen their photos, and although they were nice, I noted that they were the "typical" pro photos often taken here in Japan.

Here is a sampling of "typical":
A photo taken when your baby is 100 days old
A photo taken when your child hits 3, 5 or 7 years old - usually in a kimono, but some kids choose to wear a prom dress or wedding dress instead
A birthday photo

Now, mind you, these studios have lots of dresses on the racks for kids to choose from - everything from kimono to bright yellow fluffy prom dresses to bee costumes. You name it, they've got it. And, in the dressing room, a woman fixes the little girls' hair in a fancy updo with bows and flowers - almost every girl's dream!

We showed up in very simple ivory shirts (uniqlo!) and jeans. Ailin was wearing a red dress with an ivory turtleneck underneath. I specifically chose this dress because it is kind of Christmasy. They offered that we look at the costumes anyway to see if there might be something we like better. Um...no, but thanks.

(Oh, and did I mention that we lost her brush, so her hair was a disaster and there was nothing much we could do. Then, I forgot her barrette int he car, and my husband was out getting it when they called us into the studio to start her photos.)

Did the photographer ask us what type of poses or style we were going for? No. Did she ask if we preferred a certain background to another? No. Did she talk to us at all? No.

As luck would have it, Ailin had had a bad night - up wanting to crawl around at 3am - then she and I slept in until 9, so by the time we got to the photo studio, she was ready for her morning nap. How could I have predicted that when I made the appointment weeks ago?

So, in essence, we got to choose from a million photos and our child was not smiling in even one of them. She just looked kind of like, "where am I? Who are these people? Why are they talking to me? Why am I sitting in this fancy victorian chair. Ooh, christmas tree. Can I eat it?"

One 8x10 costs about $70. One wallet is $11. Um, okay. Was I obligated to buy something just so as not to waste this lady's time? Yes, I felt the need to for god knows why. Not only did I buy one, but I bought about 5 photos that I didn't want just because I thought that's what people do.

And, at the end, she asked if we had the HALF PRICE coupon. Those exist? Well, no, but I found out from one of my "friends" that she had a few coupons and would have given one to us had we told her about our appointment. She claimed that "everyone knows about them, no one actually pays full price for those things!!!"

Why is it that Suk and I are always out of the loop?