for any mom that owns a camera other than her phone, i think there is a struggle of when to use the “big girl” camera and when to just go with what’s on us all the time – the phone. even though i am blessed a million times over to take photos of families, i realized something the past few months.
i have less than 10 photos of MY kids from each month for the past year.
sometimes its easier to say – oh the camera is for work and my phone is for fun. but, i get scared that one day my kids will try to enlarge one of those photos and the largest they’ll ever get is a 5×7. or that they’ll see some of my work and wonder why ‘they’ never had photos documenting their life (or are at least in jpeg format).
a few years ago, i could never understand how photographers said they didn’t get to take pictures of their own kids. i thought if i ever became a photographer that wouldn’t happen to me. but like many things, easy is often the route to go, especially when pulling out my phone takes two seconds.
but using big girl camera is kind of like exercise – you don’t have to go for the marathon – just a little bit each day pays off. the point is, TO USE it everyday. (or as close to every day as possible).
another bonus? using your camera every day makes you a better photographer. you can’t do the same thing everyday without getting a little bit better. i realize that no matter where i am on my path as a photographer, that urge, desire and stubbornness to keep getting better will always be there.
so when ali caudill had a similar experience, she decided to start doing seven on sunday – an opportunity to capture a photo every day (or seven in a week) that documents seven moments each week, without using her iPhone. i decided the moment i read her words – i must do this! (disclaimer: i love, love, love photography challenges, but often give up). this one spoke to me because it forces me to shoot on an (almost) daily basis and i desperately need the uh-em… kick in the pants.
this week’s theme was light…. but because i don’t always read directions (oops), i choose my own. thinking of ali’s theme of light – i considered my challenge – low light. my sweet little camera loves the sunlight, but she (and her ISO) are not a fan of dark rooms. so i choose to take my seven photos at the end of day, when my kids are the most interesting. 🙂
1. bathtime | 2. mama + son date night (his favorite restaurant) | 3. magic show
4. more magic show | 5. skylander obsession | 6. squeezy fruit | 7. target shopping
and because ali is that quiet kind of motivator that everyone wants to just jump on the bandwagon with, take a look at the work of these fabulous photogs. inspiration galore!
