IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

Wonderful and often times stressful!

For so many of us, our cups runneth over with the everyday stuff of life all year long.  Add in the holidays, travel,  relatives, the pressure of finding and affording the perfect gifts, the perfectly decorated house, the perfect Christmas card with the perfect family photo and you quickly find yourself in survival mode when you should be enjoying this special time of year with those you love most.  

Back in September, I took a little trip with my husband and rented the Sony A7iii and a 35mm lens so I could see what the mirrorless hype was all about.  The combo was so small and fun for travel but it rained for most of our trip so it didn't get as much use as I had planned.  The afternoon before I had to ship it back, I took the kids downtown for some photos.  It was cloudy and a bit windy and Ava was in a mood!  The boys were patient and we took some photos anyway just so I could play around some more with the camera.  I basically wrote the images off as scrap and didn't revisit them until last week.

PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH

I typically find myself scrambling to do my own Christmas cards mid to late December but not this year!  I had a rare free afternoon and decided to get them done early (insert gasp here)!  I didn't take special Christmas photos of my children and we haven't managed a new family photo for 2018.  What to do?  As a photographer, I too dream of the 'perfect' family photo but as a mother, there's more too those perfectly imperfect moments.  It's real life and my heart knows what that feels like!

I opened up that file of images from September and smiled.  Jackpot!  They were't perfect.  They were perfectly imperfect!  Viewing them with fresh eyes and the passage of some time gave me better perspective.  My children, time we had shared together and captured moments as my boys and I worked around a grumpy 5 year old.  The images were real and the memories of that day made me smile. 

I created a Christmas card and loved it so much, I made myself an album with the Christmas card featured in the first spread!

The beauty of life-inspired photography are the real memories it captures.  Ava wasn't feeling it as far as pictures went but she was interested in Wyatt's gum and bubble blowing so it was a major part of what I shot that day.

The images from that day show their amazing sibling relationships and how small Ava is at 5 compared to her 16 year old brothers.  The photos bring their relationship to life.  They draw me in make me smile.

Many years from now, the boys and I will be able to recall that day and give their sister grief for how hard she made us work and how much she made us smile despite the frustration.

The next time you have a session and you find your kids or even your spouse to be less than cooperative, don't lose heart.  Beautiful, posed photos with cooperative subjects have their place but don't underestimate the joy you may find in capturing the everyday!  Those memory-evoking images may even make it to your next Christmas card or an album to be treasured for generations!

 Capture your life, print your images and have a very Merry Christmas!

Carrie

P.S.  I loved the Sony mirrorless but I own some quality Nikon glass so I'm even more excited about the newly released Nikon Z series of mirrorless cameras and can't wait to add one to my lineup!