For the next four Fridays, Danielle Kama of www.daniellekama.com in Black River will offer practical photography advice for parents (or grandparents). Yes, Danielle has a great camera – she’s a professional! But don’t worry. Her tips can be used with ANY camera. So get out your point-and-shoot – or heck, your cell phone camera – and start documenting those fleeting, timeless moments of the early years of childhood (and parenthood).
How many of you have one of those cute little “baby books” you received at your baby shower stashed somewhere completely untouched? (In case you were wondering, I’m sheepishly raising my own hand.) Here’s the thing: those books are pointless—yes, pointless! Wouldn’t you rather see photographic evidence of all those “wow!” moments rather than just a date and age when they happened? I sure would, and because most of us are visual learners, it seems to me the most accurate and effective way to document your family’s adventures is visually.
With that said, let’s talk about how you can start documenting your children’s lives in a fun, thorough, and creative way. First, my disclaimer: you do not, I repeat, do not NEED to have a fancy camera. Does it help? Absolutely! But it’s not mandatory. So if you don’t currently have the funds available to dish out for that dSLR you’ve been eyeing (or you don’t even know what a dSLR is), that’s ok. Keep following NNYLife.com, and keep tabs on Katie’s money-savings tips so you can stash enough cash to snag a camera that would make Anne Geddes green with envy.
Now, let’s get to the rules:
1) Commit to shooting daily (or weekly)…and actually follow-through on it. I do what’s now commonly referred to as the 365-Day Project where I take at least one image of something from our daily routines EVERYDAY. Some people prefer to do this weekly. That works too! Just try to imagine a year from now when you can collate all those images and make the most amazing album of what your family spent the year doing. Those albums are absolutely priceless.
Some days the photos are beautiful testaments to motherhood. Other days they’re a real reflection of the patience we must possess as parents!
2) Shoot from the heart. Ok, that sounds cheesy, but you know what? It’s true. Think about what you’re feeling when you’re looking at your children. Try and frame your images around that emotion. Maybe this means taking a close up. Maybe it means adjusting your white balance settings to make the image warmer. Maybe it means setting the self-timer, putting your camera down on the counter, and leaning over to plant a big kiss on your kid’s forehead. Do it. Real images look just that…real!
”Grit.”
It was a bitterly cold, grey day so I purposely shot this with lots of visible grain (noise.)
“Awe.”
I made sure get as much of the sky into the frame here as possible to relay just how small he appeared looking in awe at that great big sky above.
“Simplicity.”
I used simple black & white tones here and shot this at my son’s eye level.
“Discomfort.”
This was at that point in pregnancy where you feel like a small house with feet!
3) Get creative. In a rut? Can’t think of what to photograph today? It doesn’t have to be your children. Detail shots can be very telling of your everyday life (and fun to take since the subjects can’t run away!) Is your diaper pail overflowing? Take a photo. Did your son line up all his matchbox cars on the windowsill by size? Snap that photo and document it.
With two babies at home, I spend an inordinate amount of time changing diapers.
This image sums up a big portion of my day but also strikes an emotional chord with me when I see his tiny hand resting on his leg.
Be sure and check back next week for more of Danielle’s tips, or better yet, set up an appointment with her to chat one-on-one about photography during a photo session.
