Picture Perfect

A 35mm what?  A 35mm camera?  Yes, what you're thinking is exactly what I'm talking about.  That 'old' type of camera where you actually had to buy film.  Once you had taken the limited amount of pictures per roll, you then had to take it back to the store, and drop it off.  You placed it into the little packet and tore off the tab so you could have a 'return stub'.  Once you had waited the given amount of days, usually the film being sent to another location for development and then brought back, you could go back and pick up your pictures.  Many times there were pictures in that roll of film that may have surprised you for a various amount of reasons: i.e. accidentally hitting the button and snapping a shot.  But what a bunch of work for pictures, not to mention that you were also always double checking that you had an extra roll of film or extra batteries.

It is incredibly amazing to me regarding children's reaction whenever you are taking pictures around them.  Whether you're taking them with a phone, an ipod, or an actual digital camera, the minute you snap the shot, you hear these little voices "I want to see"...."let me see''' etc.  And when you try and explain to them that things didn't always use to be the way they are now, they seem to be a bit confused.  'You mean you use to NOT be able to take a pic, and turn right back around a look at it'?

As much as digital photography is a huge convenience and money saver for today's society, it often makes me wonder if there are ever situations in which we have limited ourselves in the sense of true 'candid moments'.   Are we doing the future generations un-justice because we can actually pick and choose what images we want to keep and share with others?  I'm just as guilty as the next person on trying to find that 'perfect shot'.  I often times find myself deleting pics because my face may have looked too 'fluffy', my hair may not have looked right, maybe my position wasn't the ideal look for my body to 'look the best' (let's call it what it is... maybe I looked like I had a muffin top) etc. So, we delete, retake, delete, retake etc.  But maybe if we think a little harder, we're missing the true sense behind the image.  

We take pictures to 'capture the moment'.  To try and keep that image forever in our heads, so not to forget the event etc.  But, if we're so worried about how our hair looks, if we look good enough to not delete the photo, or if we even have make-up on, are we truly capturing 'life'?  Let's face it, we don't always look like we stepped out of a magazine, or just got home from a job interview looking our best.  I believe mothers are probably the worst at this.  Not wanting to be in pics, or deleting the images, because they are too hard on themselves regarding the way they look.... or even what others may think if they would see the pic.  But what true candid moments about life are we capturing if we're only keeping the ones where we look our best?  When our children grow older and there are minimal amount of pictures with Momma in them, are they going to say "it's okay Mom, I wouldn't want those pics anyways if you were looking your best'?  NO!  Just as we all appreciate those special moments caught on camera with our mothers when we were younger, our children deserve that as well... 35mm camera or digital.  Time is a gift, and tomorrow is never promised to anyone.  So make the most of the time we have and create those special memories, savoring every moment, and capturing even the 'bad' images through photography.  I encourage/challenge everyone, especially the mom's out there, to take a minimum of 3 pics a week of you and your children doing whatever you may be doing.  It doesn't matter how they look, don't delete them.  Keep them.  Share them.  Remember the moment for everything that it was... full of love.  And someday, your kids will thank you knowing you were there every step of the way, not just on the 'good days'.

Just to share some of my 'not-so-good' moments :)

Xoxo 

Jacey