Dubious about the bronze guy

My son and his family are in town for a one-week break in his tour schedule. They have only lived in Portland for a year, most of which they were out of town, so they wanted an iconic Portland family photograph for a holiday card, a simple enough assignment. "Sure," I said, "what could go wrong?" All we needed was a simple picture in which everybody was looking into the camera and smiling. They are all three gorgeous to look at, with dazzling smiles and beautiful eyes. How could I fail? We tried the riverside, with the towers of the convention center behind them as in this shot by Grazingllama; we tried downtown, and of course we tried Pioneer Square.

In every photo, somebody had their eyes closed or their mouth open or talking; or the baby was frowning, or I managed to angle it wrong so the shadows were too strong or there was a blaze of light in the wrong place, or the baby's topknot appeared to be growing out of her father's nose, or someone was cut off slightly or looking in the wrong direction. This one combines a number of those faults. He leaves tomorrow to resume his tour, so they don't now have time to go to Sears or some such place for a traditional family photo. (Heavy sigh.)

This one obviously won't do at all, but I love the baby's very skeptical gaze at the bronze guy with the umbrella.