Tip Tuesday – Don’t Forget Yourself!

Last year I attended a workshop with Sandy Puc on photographing children. Although I learned a lot of helpful information regarding photographing other people’s children, the one piece of information that stuck with me was this – to stop hiding behind the camera and get in front of it too!

I HATE to be in front of the camera. That is part of the reason I love being behind the camera because then I don’t have to be in front of it!!! ;)

If you are a mom like me, you photograph your child frequently, but do you really have many pictures of YOU to fill their albums? My answer is an honest, NO! It struck me the evening of the workshop that if my kids look through their numerous scrapbooks they will probably find few pictures of me. They have plenty with their dad, but maybe a handful with me.

This bothered me because I realized that when they are older and after I’m gone, they won’t have pictures of me enjoying their childhood. No pictures to show how much I love them, how much fun we had, or the goofy things we do together.

Today’s tip is to get out of your comfort zone and step in front of the camera more often – both with and without your children.

Self conscious about your body image (like me!)? Your children won’t care. They don’t see that when they see you or pictures of you. They see mom or dad, not what you see in the mirror. (It took me awhile to get to this point!)

Have someone take the pictures for you or prop up your camera on a stable service and setup the timer.

Don’t worry about not having your hair fixed, your makeup face on or being dressed for the pictures. You don’t have to be picture perfect – JUST START TAKING THEM!

DJ and I propped up my camera, set up the timer and snapped away until we were happy with the result. It took a few tries…

But we finally got it right!

My makeup is faded, I have bags under my eyes from lack of sleep, my hair is pulled back and we were sitting in the breakfast nook, but I know that when DJ sees these in his scrapbook he won’t care about any of that. He will care that we have pictures of us TOGETHER!