In 1996, my parents took my brother and I to Disneyland. We ditched the Saskatchewan cold and soaked up the Cali sun together. Recently I found myself digging through my parent's basement searching for our photos from that trip. I had to show my girls proof of all my celebrity sightings - Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Timone... you know, the real A-listers.
After flipping though the pages for a while I noticed that something pretty important seemed to be missing from the photos... my Mom. There were photos of us and Dad on the rides, hanging out in the city and this gorgeous image of us on the beach - well, the three of us. It became clear pretty quickly who was in charge of documenting our trip.
Mom showed up in a few images, the ones where it was obvious they had asked a random stranger to quickly snap a group shot of us, but those were few and far between. Things were not different when it came to our regular photo albums, Dad shows up often and of course I love seeing those photos so much, but I want to see my Mom too! I want to see her wild 90's outfits and hair, I want to see us hanging out with her in our garden, how she held us on our floral print couch, and the way she looked at us with so much love (before these grandchildren showed up and stole all her affection...I'm kidding... but I'm also not kidding.)
My point is... ya'll need to get in the frame.
I'm totally not going to encourage you to do something that I'm avoiding, I have been making an effort to jump in the frame too and it's actually going surprisingly well. (I'll share a few pics I managed to be a part of below.) Sometimes that means having the camera on timer and a lot of times that means handing my camera to someone else and asking to be photographed. I've struggled with this so much in the past, for the reasons you've probably already listed off in your head: my hair is a literal disaster, I have no makeup on, have you seen what I'm wearing right now and the classic I hate being in front of the camera because I'm the farthest thing from photogenic.
Take the photo anyway.
You won't regret documenting life with your kiddos.
I am aware that it's easier said than done, which is why I offer documentary family sessions dedicated to this... capturing everyday images of you and your kids. No running through a field at sunset in a gown, these will be relaxed, everyday images of you hanging out with your babes at home. I believe these are just as important as the carefully planned Family Sessions in your coordinated outfits surrounded by golden light.
If you're feeling this or if you know you're the one who's always behind the camera, let's chat. You can reach me here.
(my eyes may be closed, but I am still there lol)
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