This is an area I can provide expert advice. There are four strategies.


1) Shoot a lot of pictures of the 21-month old and start sending enlargements to Adorama in say in 16 x 20. Once you've proved you can decorate her house with portraiture and provide her with pictures of her offspring, half the battle is won. Oh, and make the case you need the lensto improve your pictures before you start spendingthat enlargement dough.


2) Shoot for her friends or family. Pick an anniversary or a baby shower andstart producing images forher sphere of influence. When the friends and family start bragging on you,start explaining how you need just one more lens to get that perfect shot.


3) Get her interested in scrap booking; electronic or using the beautifulleather books. I have a folder on my external drive for family pictures that contains 24,000 images. Whatever she needs,I can provide.


4) Finally, develop a paying customer base. My very first commercial jobs were sporting events for friends children. I got my EF70-200mm F/2.8, strictly to shoot soccer and baseball. When I started selling images to the newspaper and then to more publications, I was careful to seperate the business finances from the personal ones. Now I provide my own funding stream for all the cool toys.