Kids and Cameras Know How...

I thought I may share with you all a small list of my tips for life with kids and cameras.

1. Always have your camera loaded, charged and ready for action. I place mine on my (very high) kitchen counter. If I waited to pull out my camera for posed moments I would miss my real life. When G puts frosting on M' nose, or when B is painting quietly at the table, icecream sundae night and mac and cheese lunches, this is real life (at least mine, some people are shopping for purses and sipping fruity drinks).
2. Photograph your children's rooms, it will mean a lot to them and you in the future.
3. Put them in good lighting (always turn off the flash)
4. Drop your expectations for nice posed photos and you just might get the best ones you have ever taken.
5. Back up all of your photos to disks and external harddrives. If you don't have the time now to scrapbook or create albums (what is free time again?), at least make your children disks of all the photos you take, they are cheap and they are priceless.
6. Hire a professional (like me) haha.. or at least get some photos with you in them...your kids will want to see you too.
7. Every once in a while dress up and have some photos taken of just you. I think it is good to look at yourself as a person, a woman, not just a Mom. Buy a colorful scarf,, a new outfit, give these photos to your kids so they can pass them on to thier kids and someday a child will say "this is my Great Grandmother, isn't she beautiful."
8. Here is a tip that has saved me shelves and shelves of space, lots of worry and guilt. You can't throw away your childs art, you can't save every peice, and the ones you do want to save start to fall apart. I photograph every peice of art on the day it comes home with my children holding it and the art by itself. So 2 photographs, I catogories digital files by year and age, and back them up to harddrives, etc. When they grow up and I am sitting with my tissues in thier empty rooms, I want to choose my favorites from the files and print them large for the walls.
9. Leave your camera at home. I don't recommend this often, but for example: My G and I now have a G and Mommy morning, 2 hours. He wanted to go to the beach and I, of course, start packing up the camera gear. I started thinking, I have the towels, our picnic, his favorite action figures, and what if my little boy wants me to carry him. Now, I have my 8 month old M that I am always holding and to be honest I jump at the chance where I have free arms to hold my little boy again..but I can't if I have my camera. I put the camera down and instead we chose shells, painted them for memories, and I hugged, held and cherished my G and my time with him.
10. Buy a good camera! It is worth it. Your not just a Mom. HA! Among all of your other duties, it is your job to document history for your children and all future generations.

Sweet Dreams...