Portrait of Motherhood
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the type of photographs that I treasure. I’ve always been drawn to candid photography, but I let it get more challenging as my kids have gotten older. While I see the beauty in the things they do, I often don’t recognize the simple beauty in what I am doing in the day in and day out.
I love being a mom. I feel the most alive in this role. Years from now I want to look back at pictures not just of my kids, but of me with them…just doing ‘mom’ stuff. ‘Mom’ stuff, after all, is my favorite stuff.
My youngest son needed a haircut and I decided to do it myself on the back porch in the midst of all the construction. As I got ready to start, I thought about how this is the kind of ‘mom’ stuff I want to remember.
I want to remember:
- how my hair was always pulled back and I usually wore a hat while growing out my bangs
- how he always made faces like it was the first time he was getting a haircut
- how we lived in the studio and trailer for a season
- how he was small enough to sit on the stool with his feet up
- how he never wore shoes and had the thickest hair
A Portrait of Motherhood
When I recognized I wanted a photo, I adjusted the settings on my camera and asked Hudson (12) to snap a few photos. I told him to practice what he learned in the SnapShop Kids Class on different angles. I’m giving myself a personal challenge to capture (have my kids capture) these types of portraits of motherhood.
Some people are drawn to posed images. Some are drawn to styled images. Some are drawn to landscapes, food, or places. I’m drawn to candid images of the normal, everyday stuff we can all relate to….these are the kinds of images I want to create and the kind I hope to help my kids learn to capture of me.
In semi-related news, I’m doing a instagram live today (8/1) at 11am US Central time. Jessie, who helps run SnapShops is semi-forcing me into it. I’ll be answering questions related to photography, parenting, and whatever else was submitted. I would have given more notice, but….I’m awkward and it will probably be painful for all of us!
The IG Live will be on the @snapshoponline account.
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