Picture Yourself Putting Down the Camera

I love photos and photography.

I’m always looking at life through the eyes of a photographer, seeing photo opportunities and framing beautiful portraits even when there’s no camera in hand.

I take photos because I feel like it helps me understand what my life means to me.

I like to capture small details and raw emotions.

There’s a problem in our culture right now of people feeling like everything they do needs to be captured and shared, i.e. the popular saying “pics or it didn’t happen,”  and another problem of understanding that just because you can take a photo, doesn’t mean you should take a photo.

Since I’m 99% sure you grew up in an age before cell phones were cameras, I ask you to think back, or even look back at the photo albums from your childhood.

How many photos are there of you on a snow day?  At Disney World?  At your 6th Birthday party?

Are there enough to give you a general idea of what was going on?  Enough to tell a short story of that day or that short moment in your life?

I think we have ten photos of our family trip to Galveston in 1985 – one is of my sister and I in the coolest bunk beds I’ve ever slept in.

I am the guiltiest party in town when it comes to taking too many photos and of making my kids smile at their camera instead of just letting the moment happen au natural.

But I’m trying to be better.

Because I know there are benefits to setting down the camera.

I’m trying to be in the moment more and to remember that one photo is more than enough.

It’s okay if neither I nor Mr. B remember what his face looked like the first time he tried strawberry ice cream.  It’s alright if I have one family photo from our vacation.

We aren’t meant as humans to remember everything.  We’re meant to enjoy the moment.  To savor.  To use our I-balls not our Iphones.

I had an experience recently where Chris and I were riding in a little bucket train with our sons and about 10 other children through the pumpkin patch.  When I got all settled in I looked up and was horrified to see at least 6 cameras in my face.

“Look here!  Over here!  Smile!” as parents ran alongside the train.

I immediately got a sense of how children must feel on the other side of our lenses.

I wanted to see faces, not plastic boxes.  I wanted to just enjoy the ride!

As I’m on a journey to be better at this myself, here are 4 tips I myself am using to curb my shutterbug habit that you might find useful as well.

1. Ask myself, do I already have a photo at this event?  If the answer is yes, put the camera away.  (Yes, that includes the smart phone)

2. Has my child seen my face in the last 10 minutes?  If the answer is no, put the camera away.

3. Ask myself, what have I done with all the hundreds of thousands of photos that I have of my family already.  Answer: Maybe 10% of the photos have been either printed and hung on the wall, or shared digitally with family and friends.  The chances that the photo I’m about to take having any real value to our family is about 1%.

4. Ask myself, am I framing up this photo because I want to post it on IG, FB, Twitter, etc…  If the answer is yes, put the camera away.  You can just tell the story later, in person or on the phone to those that really care.

The truth is, the biggest challenge we face is still years away, when our children inherit all these photos we’re furiously taking today.

I remember the challenges I faced when looking through old family photos to use for our wedding – it was a little overwhelming looking through my moms photo albums, but it was nothing compared to what our children will face if we don’t tap the brakes a little bit on our shutters.

My challenge to myself and to you this week: go to one big major holiday event without your camera.  Do not take one single photo.  Feel the feelings that this stirs up, whether they be anxiety, angst or maybe even freedom.

Let us know in the comments when you try this and tell us your results.