I love doing intentional photo shoots (obviously) and making photos for people that capture THEM and their personalities at a particular point in time. It takes a blend of candid (I love real, candid expressions) and some set-up and planning. It is a hobby, a joy, and now, a small business.
However, my home photography is a different story. I want to capture memories. There is often bad lighting, messy backgrounds, weird expressions, unplanned groupings of people, etc. It’s not staged. Sometimes I pull out my good camera, but sometimes it’s more appropriate to use my small point and shoot. Time with little ones is fleeting, and I’ve learned to just take the pictures, even if I know it won’t be a great picture. I’d rather capture the memory. Since I’ve gotten into photography, I often have a family member say, “oh, your pictures will be so much better.” Please. When it comes to birthday party pictures in a dark room and everyone is sitting at whatever vantage point they happened to have… there is only so much you can do.
My daughter just turned two. Like you, my pictures from her party are mostly silly shots of her, front and center, opening her gifts. Nothing award worthy, but I will remember the moment. (That being said, I did use the “good camera”, setup the settings ahead of time, showed hubby what I wanted him to do, used external flash – awesome!, and processed the photos afterward. So, they are as good as I think they can be.)
And yet, I did come away with a couple photos that do both. I wasn’t really trying to setup a great shot, just trying to capture the day, and I ended up with a photo that I LOVE and that I would frame 10 times over.
