Capturing the Little Moments

As a professional photographer, sometimes I forget to capture the little moments in my own babies’ lives. As our littles grow, it feels like more and more “firsts” are quickly giving way to “lasts.” Unlike “firsts” so many of these “lasts” have no predictable date or time…they just sort of slip through our fingers. The last time we’ll feed one of our babies a bottle, the last time we’ll rock them back to sleep in the middle of the night, the last time we’ll pick them up from daycare, or the last time we’ll walk them to school…

It sometimes feels like too much work to bring along my big camera to events or out for the day with my own kiddos. It’s also challenging for me if the lighting, location, wardrobe, or surroundings aren’t as perfect as I work to make them for families who hire me. My perfectionism can get in the way. These moments are gone when they are gone. If I can capture them and PRINT them, I can hold them forevermore. There’s a place for the yearly professional family portrait, but there’s a huge place for the day to day snapshots. If you only have a phone camera, take them with a phone camera, but TAKE the photos and PRINT the photos. Parents, I get it. We’re tired, they’re whining, they’re throwing tantrums, the pile of laundry on the dining table is bigger than the dog (who still needs a walk today), there are food crumbs and snot on all the things, but, I’m told and I know…we will miss this…the laundry, the sweeping, the work can wait (maybe walk the dog and take some photos of that too haha!), but time does not stand still.

For our youngest, Disney is still magic to her. So when her school brought in Elsa (Out of the Rain Character Events), we HAD to go. I decided these are the exact moments I need to bust out the big guns and bring the good camera with me…the photos aren’t perfect, but the moments are…