I have been totally convicted tonight. My oldest daughter is five years old and I love her with all my heart. She recently started school after two years of homeschooling. The transition has been insanely difficult. As I scroll through my monthly photos I've taken of my family, I see less and less of her. And it literally crushes me. It seems the only time I get to be with her is the hustle and bustle of after school activities and the bed time fight. And who wants pictures of that? I saw a facebook post of one of my favorite photographers, Paint the Moon, and I was totally convicted about my lack of photos of my oldest daughter. So, it occurred to me to take her out and make a memory. The one the photographer posted was random acts of kindness. Her daughter wanted to give away free balloons to folks in the mall. I thought it was a great idea and I am so going to do that with my daughter. Sometimes with having my children almost five years apart (not by choice), things get hurried and rushed because I am trying to play catch up all the time. My children are fabulous kids and really fun. We do so many activities with them, but I don't get to take good pictures most of the time. So I think I am going to post some tips that I have noticed about taking good photos of your children.
1. Put the baby down and let them cry for a few minutes so that you can enjoy one on one time with your other kiddos.
2. Position them during play time close to windows and natural light. That way when they are moving fast, you still don't have to set your flash and distract them.
3. Find something they like to do and photograph every detail of it. For example: if they like baseball, get out of the stands on shoot before the game. Photograph details of the game like close ups of the teams gloves in the dugout, the painted lines on the dirt, their cleats or anything that catches your attention. Maybe make a photo collage with frames on their wall and have them proudly show it off to their friends, and know that you made them feel so special.
4. During Christmas set your ISO a little higher and get some fabulous shots of them in the dark with the Christmas tree lights. Maybe try a tripod with this shot or steady yourself against a wall.
5. With my oldest daughter, she's helped me with new locations since she was born. She is so used to having the camera in her face that there is no, "Don't look at me" face. As soon as she sees that camera she's got her painted smiles and little sas going. Sometimes it drives me bananas. So lessons for this one: try to catch them when they don't see you. Put a telephoto lens on and shoot when you have some music going and they don't hear the click of your camera.
6. When I see another photographer's shots, I constantly compare their gorgeous work to mine. And when this is good when you are trying to improve yourself, it's counterproductive when you analyze their work and tell yourself "I wish our mall wasn't so lame and looked as whimsical as their mall." or "Wow look at that beach, wish we lived someplace like that." Use what ya got people! God has you where you are for a reason, so use the resources He's put in front of you. One day, I pray to live in a quite cottage beach town, but for now, I have Cheyenne. Its a country, cowboy infested, gun toting wonderland. There is so much charm here that it's ridiculous! The cowboys are AMAZING! I've never seen such hardworking people in my life. During Frontier Days this year, I vow to get away from my family for a few minutes during the pancake breakfasts and showcase just what these cowboys can do... Show me somewhere else in the planet with what I have here.
7. Photograph all their moods. My daughters are tornadoes when it comes to their moods. The little one has all eighty of her moods the first three minutes she's awake. Makes life interesting that's for sure! Then she's a happy little thing the rest of the day. My other one has really whinny moments, giggly moments, angry moments, and the one I usually get is hungry moments. It makes me laugh!
8. Photograph them while their sleeping. Its such a sweet time when their folded in funny angles and drooling. Some day you'll look back at those photos and wonder when they turned into teenagers. Must have been while you were sleeping.
9. Photograph them with art projects. Its so fun watching them be so proud of what they've created! Watching their eyes light up because you're making a big deal about what they've done all by themselves is really quite amazing!
10. And my number one tip is this: during their birthday parties, hire a photographer for goodness sakes! I've done this for the last two parties that I've done for my daughters and its been the best thing I've ever done. When you are able to focus on the party and the memories from that event instead of toting your camera around and trying to capture every single detail. You miss so much of what's going on because you're too busy trying to shoot everything.
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