When my husband and I were newlyweds, I begged him to get me a camera for Christmas. I had this vision of taking pictures of our entire life and having these perfectly curated moments that I could frame and use to decorate my house (which would also be perfect!) Long story short, I got the camera.
However, the fact that I had a nice camera did not suddenly instill in me the ability to take perfect photos. Having the nice camera equipment really only changed two things: the fact that I now felt pressured to take perfect photos every time and that I was lugging around an expensive camera that I was a little too scared to break.
I have always been one to pick up hobbies and have never been a perfectionist. But suddenly this hobby seemed like it needed to be perfect in order to be useful or relevant and justify the cost. The looming feeling that if I wasn’t working towards making money as a photographer also created this sense of hopelessness for me. Add that to the fact that photography can be a very saturated market, and suddenly this hobby no longer seemed like a hobby, but a hostage situation.
The overwhelming feeling that my photos needed to be perfect actually turned out to be my demise. My camera no longer seemed accessible. Lessons on the internet seemed like they were for experts or people with way more time on their hands, and I felt so busy that taking photos, let alone remembering to charge the camera battery, was a miracle unto itself. Long story short, I did not use my camera.
Fast forward a few years, and my husband and I welcomed our first son. This became my chance at using my camera without the feeling that I was going to let people down. I could put in as much time and effort into the pictures as I wanted without the fear that I was associating with other people’s expectations. Long story short, I began using my camera. A lot. Every month to be exact.
And these monthly photos that I have of my firstborn are some of my favorite. While they are in no way professional photographer quality, there were a few take-aways that I learned about photographing my kids in a stress-free way.
First things first, take the dang picture! My fear of other’s expectations had robbed me of capturing my own memories. Over the course of the years, I have failed to take monthly pictures of each of my boys. But the great thing about a hobby is that it can be picked up and dropped during all of life’s seasons. Whether taking the picture with your iPhone or a Nikon, just take the picture. Use what you have, find something to photograph, and practice.
Second, point and shoot pictures will produce point and shoot quality. My nice camera did not automatically improve the quality of my photography. Photography is all about composition. What did improve the quality was putting some planning and forethought into how I wanted to ‘compose’ the shot. I started paying attention to what was in the background. If the background was busy or chaotic, the outcome was distracting. If it was too bright out, or too dark, that also was a bust. Picking up the background or moving your kids to take a picture with better light can make a world of difference.
I found that I really enjoyed taking my kids outside to play when I wanted to take their pictures. I would be able to photograph them candidly and not worry about what my house looked like or if the background was spotless. Plus, going to the park when it is nice and cool in the morning or evenings was also a great time to take pictures. The sunlight was softer than during the middle of the day when there are a million kids and harsh light that produces harsh shadows.
When my children were younger, I would lay them on the bed and take pictures of them playing with toys or books that were meaningful to us. Using blankets or sheets that were basic and not too distracting helped to create images that made me feel as if I was really capable of taking a good picture! Everybody quotes, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner,” but I found that cleaning out a corner of the room was perfect. I could take distraction-less pictures without having to clean an entire section of my house. It felt like a real life-hack!
Third, move. When you are taking pictures, if you are standing in the exact same spot, you are going to have 30 pictures that are generally the same, with just a few changes in your child’s expression. I found that experimenting with angles was actually one of my favorite parts of taking pictures and it translated in the photos. Allowing my son to do whatever he was going to do produced better pictures than forcing him to act in a certain way or pose. And, it created less stress for me. Expecting a three-month-old to perfectly behave in the way I wanted him to was unrealistic and unfair. Moving around while letting him be allowed me to experiment with angles and get shots that I otherwise would have never thought of taking as an amateur photographer. Some of my favorite pictures of my child have been close-ups of his sweet little fingers and toes as he’s playing.
Lastly, don’t give up! Welcome the imperfections and take them with a grain of salt. The first month’s pictures that I took of my son were absolutely horrendous. I spent probably an hour trying to get pictures like I had seen on Pinterest. Inspiration is great, but 300 pictures later, and I still didn’t get pictures like I had seen on Pinterest. Give yourself space and time to learn without attaching unrealistic expectations. I look back on these pictures as some of the most amazing gifts I have given myself. Sure, I cringe at the composition of some of them, but the growth I had as an amateur photographer from his one-month photos (below) to his three-month photos (above) was well worth the struggle.
If you are wanting to take pictures of your children, research YouTube videos, find inspiration, and do your “homework”, but also give yourself the grace to take a bad picture. Recognize those beginning pictures as one of many building blocks to photos that can be cherished for a lifetime. Taking monthly pictures of my boys has always been a challenge once I added a full-time job and other kids to the mix, but it is something that I will never regret doing over a sink full of dirty dishes.
