My Mother-in-Law: The Model!

Today my husband and I were talking, and recalled a funny story that happened this past year. His mother, who lives in India, was asked to be a model for a photo shoot for stock photos. Designers typically turn to stock photos if they don't have the time or budget to commission custom shots. There is always a high demand for different ages and races to be represented in the photo libraries.

My mother-in-law was asked to pose as the Indian grandmother for this particular photo shoot. They staged an Indian family, grandparents, parents and grandchildren. We got to see the photos - they turned out quite well! We did have a good time teasing her about quitting her day job to become a model! She wasn't too thrilled about that idea.

We never gave much thought to where the photos might turn up. We had completely forgotten about the photo shoot, until a couple of months later, we were talking to some relatives who live in another part of India. They were on vacation in Kerala, driving through the countryside, and suddenly one of the children said, "I just saw Auntie on a billboard!" None of the other family believed her, until the next day when they passed the same sign and they all did a double-take. They couldn't believe it - it looked just like my MIL - advertising a new masala mix! They assumed that it must have been a look-a-like. These relatives were unaware that she had participated in the photo shoot.

When we filled them in and told them that it really was her - they couldn't believe that out of one billion people in India, they found her on a billboard in a totally different state. The scary thing about the stock photos is you never know where you will end up or what you might be advertising!

*The above photo is not from my MIL's photo shoot - it is another similar shot with another family. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the original photos.