I got a part time job at a publishing house....I wanted to get some experience doing magazine layout.

I was put into a back room and asked to pick out family pictures that would go into a church directory. The pictures were taken in the studio, processed and it was up to me to pick the best ones.

The families were large and about 70% had or adopted special needs children.

As the photographer staged the pictures, one of the familiy members would reach over and hold the child's head to face towards the camera, He would snap a pic then tell the person to move their hands so their hand wouldn't show up in the shot.

The poor kid's head would wander all over the place-on the proof photos you'd see everyone looking AT the camera and that one person, usually sitting at the end, staring off in another direction.

If I was lucky, out of 10 shots, I'd get one worth printing.

To this day I wonder how many people got their directories, found their pictures and wondered why there wasn't a BETTER picture in there!