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| Middle School Concert |
Let me start by saying I grew up in a Kodak family living in Kodak's original city - EVERYONE in my family, including myself, worked at Kodak at one time or another. My dad was an engineer that designed and tested film. After my dad retired from Kodak, he started a second career as a photographer. We take a LOT of pictures in my family... A lot. And I LOVE pictures -- to me those are captured memories and when my memory is not as great as it once was, I will still have those photos for myself, for my girls, and someday for their children.
So here is the thing -- I love beautiful portraits of my girls! I learned a lot from my dad being a photographer - I am much more aware of "busy-ness" in a picture and if I'm taking a portrait of my girls or helping them pick out an outfit for school picture day, I will encourage them to wear something that matches each other or at least goes nicely together. I never want what they are wearing to take the focus away from their beautiful faces! (They, btw, have completely different styles and so coordinating is sometimes a struggle... But we manage!) I also love taking pictures at events or on trips, etc., and I like to make sure that I have a nice background so you can see where we were but also see the girls (if they are in the picture). I will wait until other people walk through so that I don't have a whole bunch of other people in the picture.
And over the years my girls have learned that I will wait for them to compose themselves so that I can get that beautiful portrait picture. I remember years ago while trying to get the "perfect" picture for our Christmas card I said, "Here's the thing, this can take as little or as much time as you want -- the quicker you give me one nice smile, the quicker we can get a good picture and move on!" I think I posted some of the outtakes of that photo shoot on here!
But in addition to learning what makes a "good" portrait or a "good" vacation photo, I've learned that some of the very BEST pictures are the candid ones! My girls get each other laughing and they act goofy and I cherish those sometimes more than the actual picture that I was aiming for! Those are the snapshots of life - not them frozen in a pose, prim and proper, but real glimpses of who they are and full of their personalities. I love the camera function that allows me to hold the button down and just shoot continuously and see what I captured later! And you know what? I've started adding some of those to the photo cards we create for the holidays! It's good to loosen up and let the kids be who they are - they'll have more fun, you'll get great photos and most importantly you'll make great memories!
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| "Don't hit your sister!" |
So here is the thing -- I love beautiful portraits of my girls! I learned a lot from my dad being a photographer - I am much more aware of "busy-ness" in a picture and if I'm taking a portrait of my girls or helping them pick out an outfit for school picture day, I will encourage them to wear something that matches each other or at least goes nicely together. I never want what they are wearing to take the focus away from their beautiful faces! (They, btw, have completely different styles and so coordinating is sometimes a struggle... But we manage!) I also love taking pictures at events or on trips, etc., and I like to make sure that I have a nice background so you can see where we were but also see the girls (if they are in the picture). I will wait until other people walk through so that I don't have a whole bunch of other people in the picture.
And over the years my girls have learned that I will wait for them to compose themselves so that I can get that beautiful portrait picture. I remember years ago while trying to get the "perfect" picture for our Christmas card I said, "Here's the thing, this can take as little or as much time as you want -- the quicker you give me one nice smile, the quicker we can get a good picture and move on!" I think I posted some of the outtakes of that photo shoot on here!
But in addition to learning what makes a "good" portrait or a "good" vacation photo, I've learned that some of the very BEST pictures are the candid ones! My girls get each other laughing and they act goofy and I cherish those sometimes more than the actual picture that I was aiming for! Those are the snapshots of life - not them frozen in a pose, prim and proper, but real glimpses of who they are and full of their personalities. I love the camera function that allows me to hold the button down and just shoot continuously and see what I captured later! And you know what? I've started adding some of those to the photo cards we create for the holidays! It's good to loosen up and let the kids be who they are - they'll have more fun, you'll get great photos and most importantly you'll make great memories!
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