Existing In Photographs For Your Children

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“I have to wait until I lose 10 lbs”

“My roots are hideous, I can’t right now”

“I have nothing to wear”

“Ugg, I look so old!”

Any of these phrases sound familiar?  Any sound familiar about getting in front of the camera and taking pictures with your children?

I get it….. I’ve been there.

I’ve even heard my own clients mention these when they inquire about family photos.

But what if those excuses are depriving your children? What if they are taking away memories your kids could have of you?

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How can we exist in photographs for our children is we resist even being photographed?

Often I am an observer. I stand back and watch at a lot of events for our family.  I’m watching my kids have fun, play and usually I have some sort of camera in my hand to capture those memories, from the “nice camera” to my iPhone.  It makes me smile to photograph my kids in their glory, enjoying their childhood and growing up right before my eyes. At that point it doesn’t matter what camera I’m using just as long as it does the job.

One day I was looking through a photo album of summer vacation photos and realized I was in NONE of the photos!  Nothing, nada…. the entire vacation was captured beautifully, the sand, the beach, the sea crabs we found, but no pictures of me, mom. It almost looked like my poor hubby was a single dad with three fun loving kids at the beach.

Why didn’t I get in pictures? I asked myself.

My ideas and excuses of “why” I shouldn’t or that I just forgot to step out from behind the lens, overwhelmed me with sadness. My children won’t have pictures to look back on of our incredible family vacation all because of me.

It’s funny because all those excuses are just that excuses. I’ve never heard my kids say,   “Mom, step out of this picture because you look too old,” or “Mom, I wish you would have lost those 10 lbs before we took this picture of us on vacation.”

NEVER…

With summer coming up and the kids out of school spending more time at home made me reflect on how this is the perfect time to start existing in photographs for my children.  No more excuses, no more self-judgments about what I should look like in a photo, or hiding behind the camera.  We can take selfies, hire a local photographer for a “mommy & me session”, set a camera timer or even get a cheap camera trigger on Amazon.

I’m stopping the excuses.

I’m stepping out in front of the lens this summer!

I’m giving my children memories this summer that they can freeze in a moment of time and show their children’s children.

Like any great challenge and shift in thinking, it’s always better to do it with others.  So I challenge YOU, moms, exist in photographs for and with your children.

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Read them a book, and capture it!

Ride bikes, have a race, hula hoop, and capture it!

Cook your favorite dinner together and capture it!

Show your children that memories captured in photographs aren’t about what you looked like only on the outside it’s how they make you FEEL!

Don’t wait until those 10lbs are gone, don’t color those gray hairs and don’t wait a minute longer.  You can never get time back, new memories replace old ones, so make the new ones now!

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Happy Snapping!

Malia

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Malia
Malia is a wife, mom of three pretty amazing kids, an addict to anything sweet and the owner of Malia B Photography. She is a sucker for emotion, creativity and being unique. After being an elementary school teacher for 6 years, she decided to close the teaching books and open her passion and shutterbug skills to photographing newborns, children and expecting parents. She hasn’t looked back since and now gets to spend her days capturing the greatness in babies and children, along with helping educate parents and photographers on how to capture theirs in photographs. When she is not behind the camera, she is cooking with her kids, pruning her garden or designing custom photography props.

1 COMMENT

  1. Any suggestions on HOW to be more “present” in photos besides having a bunch of selfies or needing to ask/have strangers around to take pics?

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