We got our family pictures back last week and it’s taken me about that amount of time to get over them. We have never had professional photos taken as a family and I’m just speechless at what we look like. One of the gals, Tiffany, that I met at the photography workshop was visiting from Bend and we hired her to take some photos. She’s somebody that I have come to respect and has become a mentor-type for me with my photography dreams. All I wanted was ONE image where we were at least all looking normal. (Side note, I’m not sure what ‘normal’ is, but the new normal has been me grinning at the camera and uttering to whomever is holding it directions, with gritted teeth….it is never a relaxing experience.)
I’m somebody who deeply values pictures, especially images that show families doing life together in an authentic way. There’s also an aspect to the posed photos that I truly appreciate and love. When the day came for Tiffany to shoot our pictures, I worked to let go of any pre-concieved notions or behaviors that my children, or I might have had. I think I did a good job in that I LOVE the pictures and they don’t bring up any inauthentic feelings….and I consider the mini marshmallow bribes a success. I’m not below that. I’m glad that I held onto the idea that I wanted us to look….well, like us.
We made the decision to have pictures taken in our backyard and at the duck pond near our house. We’ve spent many hours in our backyard just being a family and quite a bit of time feeding the ducks at the pond, I’m thankful that the locations we picked were both near our home/at home and meaningful.
As a lover of images, I find it so hard to be natural in front of the camera, but I want my children to have pictures of ME with THEM….and I especially want my children to have pictures of THEM with both of US (Barry and me!). I dream in pictures, I see snapshots EVERYWHERE I go. Colors pop at me with every turn, rosy cheeks, bright eyes, sad frowns….I want to snap it all. Everybody has a story. I want pictures that tell a story and actually mean something…not just matching shirts that blend one personality to another. Everybody should sparkle and shine.
That’s how I want my eventual clients to feel, all sparkly and shiny, after I’m done documenting them. Shining bright at their best version of themselves.
Everybody deserves to sparkle.
I know my husband and girls are sparkling people. I freakin’ live with them, so I know how amazing they all are. What I wasn’t prepared to see in our family pictures was how much I sparkled and shined. I was baffled. Aside from the fact that we looked like we belong on somebody’s Pinterest board, I couldn’t believe that we looked so happy and engaged….we look how I feel in our day-to-day life. Parenting is hard. Marriage is hard. Duh. But Barry and I both frequently say to each other how much we love it: being married and being parents. We wore our nicest versions of what we had hanging in our closets, the clothes that say we’re us….and this is how we look all together.
Here are four of my most favorite shining and sparkling images from that day.
*All photos credit to Tiffany of Red Owl Photography.
