My secret to a good picture???
I have three friends that are professional photographers.
One friend is the mom of my son’s best buddy. One is my neighbor and my dearest friend since I was 16. And one is my graduate-school kindred spirit.
Yup. That is my secret. It’s probably cheating. Okay it IS cheating. But, if you don’t have a friend who is a professional photographer, you need to get one. Like, right away. Buy these folks coffee…. let them borrow your car….do whatever…. Because when you send your son on playdates you get pics like THIS:

By Jessica Nichols Photography
When you have a new baby you get pics like THIS from Auntie Sugar:

by Christiana Childers Photography
When they need last minute models for their workshops you get the phone call and then end up with pics like THIS:

by Erika from Me Ra Koh Confidence Workshop
I know. I need to bake more and pay these women back, eh?
I have a friend who loves to take pictures of her
breakfast. Yes, her breakfast. She has at least 4 posts on her
blog dedicated to these breakfast creations. And you are about to see why. This is what her breakfast looks like.
![eggs-4[1]](http://mamabloo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/eggs-41.jpg)
- by Christiana Childers Photography
Can you not just see the countryside when you look at the homemade jam, the perfect soft boiled egg, the wood grain of the table? Just look at that funky little spoon! I feel like I am stepping into a B & B and the person who made this breakfast LOVES me.
So, I thought, I’ll give it a try. Here is my breakfast!

Can you not just sense the overwhelmed-ness as the breakfast sits on the too-small desk among the piles of papers to look through, bills that need to be paid, cell phone cords, tossed aside “to do” lists and general “stuff” (you can even catch the corner of the priority mail box full of essays to be graded…) ? Can you feel the desperation as the recipient abandons her coffee and turns to soda — begging for the caffeine in the Diet Pepsi to go right into her veins!? Can you not just taste the KETCHUP on the microwaved frozen veggie-sausage? Mmmm…mmmmm…!