As a Mom and photographer, pretty much the only photos that I have of myself are selfies. There, I said it. I take selfies with my son. I’m always at the ready to take photos of my son by himself and with family or friends. I’m also at the ready to take photos of myself with my son.
If it weren’t for selfies, I don’t think I would really have any photos of my son and myself together. I have just a few photos of my son and myself but those photos only happened when I broke down and asked my husband to take a photo of us. But, that’s about it.
Because our son is a wiggle worm, I tend to flip the phone camera around, place the phone on a ledge, click the timer button, and my son and I countdown together as the phone gets ready to snap our photo. We make silly faces, serious faces, goofy faces, smiley faces, kissy faces … our selfie game is on point and strong when we’re posing together.
What I don’t have a lot of are candid moments between my son and myself. In fact, recently, I put together two photo albums (one from my son’s first year and one from my son’s second year), and the only photos of me in the albums are selfies with him and then a few posed photos from his First Communion and his second birthday.
I’m all about candid moments too. I love flipping through his photo albums and seeing all of the special moments that he has had by himself and with family and friends. Those candid moments show so much love and emotion.
This past weekend, the thought of me not being in hardly any photos with my son was brought to my attention a few times. When I was scrolling through my phone photos from Easter, I didn’t have any of my son and myself. And then I scrolled through Facebook and came across photo after photo of families posing together.
Then, when my son was following the trail of arrows to his Easter basket, I took a video of the whole special experience. My Mom also took a video on her phone and caught me in the video a few times since I was a few steps ahead of her. When my Mom showed my in-laws her video, my father-in-law said, “Wow, a video where Jen is actually in it.” I had to laugh about it because it was so true.
So, last night, I talked to my husband about hiring a photographer to get some family photos. I also told him that every holiday I want someone who is celebrating with us to snap a quick family photo.
I also decided that I really need to focus on #11 in this post. As I said in the post, as a photographer, the only photos I have of myself are usually selfies that I take with our son. I always feel awkward asking my husband to take a photo of me. And, half the time, it’s usually a rushed photo opp. This year, I want to change this. Who’s with me?
Moms, I have a challenge for you. Step in front of the camera. Document your life with your babies. Document yourself. Document the best times, the hard times, the tired times, the fun times. Before we know it, times passes by in the blink of an eye.
How often do you step in front of the camera?
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