The weather today in Atlanta was so wonderful. It was such a nice change from what we experienced just a few weeks ago when we were snowed iced into our home for over a week. I debated on whether I should post a snow picture on such a sunny and warm day. I decided it would just be reminder of how thankful we should be to have this warm weekend in January. Also, I wanted to share what one of my New Years Resolutions was. I don’t typically bother making resolutions but somehow this year I made a few. I was inspired by Tara Whitney’s 6 people 12 times blog post and decided there was no reason I couldn’t get a picture of my family every month for a year. I love her idea of printing an album of them all at the end of the year and including some fun tidbits from each month and what was going on in our lives.
I have to say that I have no desire to be a part of the many 52 week projects I see out there by other photographers. The secret of having your own photography business is that you actually don’t “take pictures” as much as you think you will. And, that is okay with me. I still do it enough that I enjoy having some down time so I can be more creative when I need to. My family photos suffer from this so I am excited to start this new project with my family and let my kids come up with some ideas and make it fun. At this point, my kids are very unwilling to ever get their pictures made (especially together). I think a lot of our images will be with the self timer which is actually my greatest tip (or trick) for taking a group family picture. Nothing makes my kids smile more than watching me set up my camera and skip, hop, dance and act ridiculous trying to get back in position before it goes off. I’m not kidding. Our best family photos were taken by…no one.
I didn’t think one picture a month would be too hard. Of course, I dreaded trying to make it happen on this day. The snow was melting and the sun was in a terrible position and I couldn’t even find where the kids were. Why didn’t I do this 2 days before when it was cloudy and you could see more snow? With my husband’s help I had everyone throw on some clothes. “Some” being the key word. Poor Kate isn’t even wearing socks and I think there are some hidden pajamas. That is okay with me, just as long as we get the shot. I don’t need smiles or brushed hair. This is how we were on this particular day and I’m glad I have it captured forever.
I’ll try to include my monthly shots even if they are really really bad. Perfection isn’t the goal…just getting the image of all of us together. With the pressure off it shouldn’t be too hard (fingers crossed).
Now, go out and enjoy the great weather – while you can!
