Getting in front of the lens

I know this is Melody’s field of expertise; I’m not going to talk about capturing the best light or composition.  I just think it’s a necessary conversation to have with any photo-obsessed mom.

I am one.

We can smell our own.

“Stand there!  Turn a little, little more, no, too far. Right there. Smile. No a REAL smile. Stop with the fake smile!”

Snap. Snap. Snap.

Lots and lots of pictures.  Kids on the beach.  Kids in the back yard.  Kids unaware they’re being photographed so you get these striking photos of thoughtful expressions with the evening sun reflecting off their perfect skin.  Kids in the bath.  Kids with other kids. Smiling, laughing, playing. Kids. Kids. Kids.

Beautiful! Perfect! You are Anne Geddes' sister from another mister.

Now.

PUT DOWN THE CAMERA.

Or more to the point:

GIVE THE CAMERA TO SOMEONE ELSE.

Seriously.

Of the fifty or so bajillion pictures I have OF my kids, I probably have 5 WITH my kids.  We have the standard family portraits where we all dress alike and smile, but those are so not representative of the personalities that make up my family.  Those random snapshots, the careless natural interludes are never captured because I am always the one clicking away…too desperate to seize each rapidly escaping moment…failing to be a part of them.

So what if my husband doesn’t always wait for the perfect expression and sometimes my friends’ pictures are blurry.  Who cares if there’s a stranger caught in the background and no one made sure my shirt collar wasn’t sticking up? Maybe I’m the only one that takes fifty variations of the same shot, hoping that one of them will be THE picture. 

When I give up the camera, what I have is far more precious.  I would rather have blurry, goofy, wonky pictures of my children and me, than to look back one day and realize I spent too much time behind the lens and forgot to participate in the fun.

You can also find me at Hope4Peyton, The Mayhew Review and Twitter, you should come by, it's nice…we have cookies! Feel free to email me at Anissa.Mayhew (at) gmail (dot )com.