Henry Townshend is a ghost magnet (room_302) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-12-13 10:48:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !partner thread, henry townshend, sharon carter |
Who: Henry Townsend, Sharon Carter & Baby Viv
When: December 10
Where: Sharon’s Place
What: Christmas Photos!
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Sharon had a little Christmas tree up and decorated, and the fireplace cleaned up and decorated. The place was looking incredibly festive. At least, the parts where she’d scooted away baby toys and gates and swings and chairs. Viv was pushing six months now, and was a happy, healthy baby. She didn’t have as much hair as Sharon would have liked, but that made the little headband and bow that much more adorable. Sharon put her in a cute, red, Christmas dress and bow, with a little pair of diaper-covering bloomers. Then she settled by the sofa to wait for the photographer. She’d found him online and invited him to come to her place. Taking photos of Viv in a place where Viv was more comfortable was the best way to get good, smiling pictures, right?
She jumped up at the sound of the doorbell and went to answer it. Veronica and Backup were out at the moment, so they had the place to themselves. Sharon pulled open the door and broke into a bright smile. It was cold outside (snowing, omg.) and very warm inside. “Hi! You must be Henry?”
The last time Henry had worn a parka he’d been visiting his mother in Maine for Christmas a couple of years ago. That had been the year Henry had decided he’d do holidays on his own from now on. In a symbolic sort of gesture he’d packed up his parka, gloves, hat and boots and put them in storage, because when was he ever going to need them in Southern California?
Sometimes Henry wondered if his entire life wasn’t some kind of elaborate joke.
After three days of non-stop flurries, Henry had buckled and dug said parka out of storage, in the process he found that somehow in the year and change of being in storage, one of his gloves had up and disappeared along with his hat. At least his duck boots were still in relativly good condition even if he did hate them. They were warm, at least.
Sharon found Henry on her front doorstep shivering a little, snowflakes in his brown hair and all over his shoulders and equipment bag. Despite shivering he gave his new client a smile. “Hi, Sharon. How are you?”
“I’m good! Come on in,” she offered, stepping out of the way so that he could come inside where it was warm. “Jeez, it’s ridiculous out there. Orange County, what happened?” Not that it was ever … well, normal. Nothing was normal around here, was it? But snow always seemed to catch her off guard--at least, it had last year, too. So maybe abnormal was the new normal?
“Can I get you something to drink? Hot chocolate? Coffee?” She asked, closing the door behind him. “Or shall we just get down to business?”
“Orange County happened,” Henry said as he stepped inside. At least the inside of Sharon’s home was as warm as it appeared to be. Henry glanced around quickly as he shrugged off his parka. Christmas was very much alive and well here, it seemed. Henry hadn’t so much as even thought of putting up a tree at his place.
Not wanting to track cold melting snow across Sharon’s floor, Henry took off his boots and left them by the door. “A coffee would be great, thanks. While you get that, If Viv is ready and you know where you want the pictures taken, I can set up.” He patted his equipment bag at his side.
“Okay.” Sharon motioned toward the living room where the tree and fireplace were. “I cleared a space near the hearth for the photos. I don’t know if the lighting works for you, but it’s cute and decorated.” That was the important part. They could open more curtains for more natural light. Then Sharon went into the kitchen to pour a couple cups of coffee on the Keurig.
Viv was sitting in her Bumbo chair, chasing Cheerios around the tray with chubby fingers. She took no notice of what the adults were doing. The Cheerios were far more interesting. And starting to get a little frustrating. Because it was still a gamble even if she caught one whether or not it would end up in her mouth.
Henry made his way to the living room. The first thing he noticed was the subject of the photoshoot: Little Viv in her Bumbo chair busy with her Cheerios. She was a cute baby, all chubby and squishy with rosey cheeks, Henry couldn’t help but smile faintly. During his stint at The Picture Palace, he’d photographed dozens and dozens of children ranging from newborns to teenagers. Henry had no desire to have any children of his own any time soon, but the experience at the Picture Palace had made him surprisingly good with them.
Henry’s attention then moved to the hearth where Sharon had cleared a spot as their backdrop. He studied it for a moment. The current lighting in the room should be sufficient if he used his hi-def digital. He was concerned opening the curtains would detract from the warmth the scene currently had. He had an extra low-watt light source in his bag if it came down to it.
Satisfied the hearth was suitable for Sharon’s needs, Henry went about setting up his tripod. He made sure to be quiet and unobtrusive so not to interrupt Viv’s serious Cheerio Business.
Sharon came out of the kitchen with a tray. She had milk and sugar in little, porcelain tea set pieces, and two cups of coffee in teacups. It looked a whole lot fancier than it really was. She just didn’t know how Henry took his coffee, and she wanted him to enjoy it rather than choke it down out of manners or something. The tray was carefully set on the coffee table, and Sharon turned to watch him setting up the camera business.
“I’m so glad we could do it this way,” she commented, glancing down at Viv. (The baby was still preoccupied with her cereal.) “I think we’ll get a better picture here at home than we would in a studio.” Viv would be much more comfortable here, wouldn’t she?
Henry had just finished setting up the tripod and camera when Sharon joined him in the living room with the tray and coffee. Henry had never been particular about how he took his coffee. He’d drink it with cream and sugar or black if that was how it was offered, he didn’t really care. As long as it was strong, that was all that mattered. However, he appreciated Sharon giving him the option of fixing his beverage to suit his tastes.
The tea set looked nice and reminded Henry a little bit of a tea set his grandmother had, although he hadn’t seen it since she’d passed away. For a brief moment, he thought of cold, dark winter afternoons in Maine, holed up in his grandparent’s large Victorian home, a fire crackling in the parlor fireplace, his grandmother seated in an oversized chair with a pair of knitting needles working on a scarf that seemed to go on forever. Henry was startled at the rare pleasant memory from his childhood. He hadn’t so much as thought of those afternoons in years. Remembering now almost made him a little sad.
He shook off the memory quickly. He was at Sharon’s home for business and Henry was, if nothing else, professional. He picked up one of the teacups, added a little cream and sugar, since it was offered, and sipped his coffee. He took a moment to let it warm him up from the inside out before he turned back to the matter at hand.
“In my experience, taking baby pictures, even professional ones, in the home is a lot better than taking an infant to an unfamiliar place,” he told Sharon with a mild shrug. “I’ve done both and nine times out of ten, a baby will fuss and cry at a studio. Not so much if its done in their home. Though, that’s not to say that they don’t ever fuss. They are babies and that’s kind of what they do.” He looked over at Viv. “Though she seems pretty content, so now is probably a good time to get a couple of shots in.”
Sharon was thankful that she had a professional in to take care of this for her. She could have simply slipped a photograph into her Christmas Cards, but it would be nice to have something good to send out to friends and family this year. An update about how things were going. Aramis had a lot of family on his side, and Sharon wanted to make sure they all got a nice photograph of the baby.
While Henry fixed his coffee, Sharon did the same, taking turns after him with the milk and sugar. Then she sipped as well, perching on the edge of the sofa. A hand reached down to fiddle with Viv's bow again. It was adorable, and somehow it was still in place.
"Ha! You don't have to tell me twice," Sharon grinned, loving the comment about it being what babies do. Fuss, eat, poop, and sleep. That was about all. "All right." Sharon sprung up from the sofa, pulled Viv out of the Bumbo, and set her down between the Christmas Tree and the fireplace on the floor.
Viv wasn't yet crawling, but she was definitely sitting up on her own. She sat there and looked confused up at her mother, then the man with the other stuff. The black stuff. The nummy looking stuff. She wanted to chew on it.
The bow, Henry decided, totally made the entire picture. The way it perched on Viv’s little peach-fuzz covered head was just too stinking adorable. He smiled a little more easily at the baby, “hey there, cutie,” he said, waving a little at her. Then he looked through his camera’s viewfinder “Alright, let’s see…”
With Viv on the floor instead of on the hearth, where he originally thought Sharon was going to place her, Henry realized he really wasn’t going to need the tripod. He unfastened the camera from it and squatted down so he was more or less at Viv’s height.
Ordinarily, Henry would have gone into pitch-mode, asking Sharon how many photos she wanted, how prominent Viv would be in each, etc. etc., and charged her accordingly. But this was Christmas, and Viv’s first Christmas at that. So instead of trying to upsell Sharon like he would have if he was still working at the Picture Palace, Henry simply snapped away, taking one picture after the other in rapid succession.
First set were close-ups of Viv, framed by the bottom corner of the Christmas tree and the brick of the hearth. The soft lights of the tree fell on the baby’s face gave her a warm sort of glow that Henry liked. Then, without standing he scooted back a few paces so he could get more of the tree and hearth in the shot. Whenever Viv attempted to look away or in a direction that wasn’t exactly flattering, Henry got her attention back by waving his hand dramatically and using his repertoire of amusing baby noises to get her to smile her toothless little smile for him.
Definitely a cutie.
After a few minutes, Henry’s legs started complaining and he stood up again to stretch them. “Sharon, why don’t you get in the shot too?” He motioned her towards the hearth. “Just for a couple, ok?”
Sharon watched, doing her best to keep Viv’s attention on the camera and not on the fire in the fireplace or the twinkling lights of the tree. It wasn’t easy, as the six month old really liked looking at anything bright and sparkly, and wasn’t quite as interested in the man growing rapidly more boring with each passing minute. Sharon had to lean in a couple of times to adjust the baby in her seat, making sure the dress was splayed properly, the little bows on her socks were lined up with her chubby ankles.
She was wondering how much this was going to cost--but it was Viv’s first Christmas, after all. She could afford to splurge a little. Sharon wanted to remember this moment, this holiday. When Henry asked her to get into the shot, she was surprised. “Really? ...I’m not... “ She wasn’t dressed, hadn’t curled her hair or put on makeup. Maybe that was for the best, though? It wasn’t like Viv had any makeup on. She swallowed down her silly self-consciousness, and moved over to the hearth. “Where do you want me?”
Henry looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he fastened his camera on the tripod and stepped over to Sharon, gently pulling her to the spot between the tree and the hearth. “Stand here,” he instructed her. He picked up Viv and handed the baby to her mother. He took a step back to look, tapping the backs of his fingers on his chin. Sharon may not have dressed up or put on any make-up, but she still looked nice. Henry didn’t expect Sharon to share these shots with anyone. This was more to commemorate Viv’s first Christmas with her mother. It was a nice present to give.
Henry touched up Sharon’s hair a little bit and stepped back to his tripod and camera, smiling a little as he took a couple of extra photos.
Sharon was very good at standing where she was told to stand, and holding the baby. She could smile like the best of them, and the woman was nothing if not photogenic. It would be nice to have a couple of pictures of herself with the baby--ones that weren’t selfies. Trouble with being a single mom was that she didn’t have anyone around to take pictures of her with Viv. Except Veronica, but she wasn’t about to ask her. (Though, Veronica was pretty killer with a camera.)
“Say cheese, Viv.” Sharon smiled for the picture. She was really glad she’d done this.