Reasons Why Family Photos Are So Important for Mom
If you’re reading this, it’s probably because your wife sent this to you. I want to first start by saying, I get it… You think family photos are a waste of money and way too stressful for your wife and the family. When I am hired as your photographer, I can offer a stress-free experience. My packages include styling assistance. To learn what’s involved in this, follow this link to my recent blog post, “How I help with Styling your Session”.
As you read I hope you’ll see that as your photographer I am more focused on you and your family's (including your wife's) experience than my own. You hired me to provide a service and while that service is only a 45-minute session, I hope you’ll learn all that is involved in the decision.
1. These could be the only photos where she looks put together.
As moms, we are shuffling a lot. Whether she works from home, works in the office, or stays home. Moms manage the calendar, make the grocery lists so they can go to the grocery store, taking care of the dogs, cats, chickens, and plants. Moms are changing diapers, shuffling laundry, making beds, and cleaning up after everyone who lives in the house and sometimes those who don’t live in the house. Her makeup routine is 5-minutes and her hair is typically in the same top knot that it was three days ago because the calling on her life is motherhood.
2. She wants to remember this time.
Life is crazy busy and, there are certain milestones that we can capture on our phones. Like the joy of watching your baby take their first steps, your son or daughter’s first home run, getting their driver’s license. However, the moments she is looking to capture are different than what can captured on a phone. It’s the way that the toddler's eye squints when he or she smiles, or the way her daughter loves dresses now but, knows that will quickly drift away in a few years because she’ll find a love for leggings or, perhaps it’s her sons final years at home and, she wants to capture his big arms around his younger siblings because soon, that girlfriend he’s been dating since middle school will eventually be his wife, and he’ll be out the house with his own family. It’s moments like this that are frozen in time and hung on the wall. It’s these moments that will hang on the wall for an eternity and, come alive when she gazes at them.
3. Camera phone photos just aren’t cutting it.
While our camera phones capture photos, they aren't the best photos. You can have your aunt or cousin take photos for you at the next birthday party or family reunion it just isn’t the same. They didn’t quite capture everyone’s smiles. Three of the five members' eyes are closed, everyone is just standing, and a stop sign is in the background. Hiring a photographer will give you peace of mind knowing they’ll find the best location where your family is the center of attention and the backdrop isn’t super distracting that capturing the smiles, laughter, sassy grins, and silly little moments will be my job, not yours.
4. Lastly, she and you won’t be behind the camera.
This final point involves an exercise. Take out your phone. Go to your recent photos. How many of these photos is your mom or wife in? AND… if she is in them, is she wearing something other than leggings a baggy t-shirt, or an oversized sweatshirt? Was she paying attention to you when you snapped the photo or is she more concerned with capturing the smiles of her loved ones? If she is looking at the camera, is she smiling or rolling her eyes because she can’t believe you’d take a picture of her now when she’s shuffling what seems like 1000 things? Now onto you, how many pictures are you in? How many of those that you are in were shared with you by others? Are you wearing clothes that you’d wear to church or possibly to pick up dog poop? Are you paying attention to the photo taker, are you wanting to make sure that everyone else is paying attention?
I am assuming that the photos in your recent are 90% of the kids, 3% are of the animals and, the rest are screenshots of memes that you’ve found on Instagram because, they are too funny not to share or perhaps photos of notes or things you want to remember, like a broken hitch you were supposed to fix 2 weeks ago.
You see, taking family photos is more than trying to hurry into the car to make it to the appointment on time to stand around for 45 minutes while some stranger takes photos with a pretty backdrop. Your photo session means more to your wife than that. Your photo session means more to ME than that! I’ll do all that I can to help make the day of your session fun, engaging, and as if we’ve known each other for years.
xo - Cheree
