My Initiative To Get In The Frame With My Family, Documentary Style

I posted this photo on my personal facebook page the other day with the caption, “self-portrait from today.” A friend commented:

So I chuckled and explained how I did it, but let’s rewind a bit before I get into that. Last Mother’s Day I did a bit of a social experiment. I went the whole day without taking a cheesy selfie or asking a family member to take a picture of me and the kids. I was really hoping that at some point during the day my husband would take a picture of us without being asked to. But he didn’t. Not a single picture. Not on Mother’s Day. Not on any day. And I almost got mad, but then I came to the realization that it’s just not important to him. It’s important to ME. That was the day I made it a priority to figure out how to make the kinds of pictures that I want of me and my children by myself. I did good for a few months, but then I got lazy. So I’ve decided to start an initiative to get back in the frame, hold myself accountable, and encourage others to do the same. Would you care to join me?

Honestly, I don’t care HOW you get in the frame as long as you get in it (it’s SO important, but more on that in another post). Me? I’m working on self-portraits, but if it’s easier for you to just have someone else (your spouse, a friend, a complete stranger. etc.) take the pictures — go for it! The important thing is that we, ourselves, are finding ways to document our relationships with our loved ones on a regular basis (I mean, as amazing as they are, who can afford to hire a documentary family photographer for every worthy moment and milestone)? I’m going to be trying all sorts of things and sharing my journey with you here and on social media with the tag #myeverydayisworthit. Feel free to join in the conversation, ask questions, and share what you’ve learned… most importantly, share (and don’t forget to tag) your favorite images!!! I can’t wait to see them!!

Now back to how I made both of the photos above — how I’m able to make authentic self-portraits of me and my kids in action. I’ve tried out several things this past year which I will explain in a future post, but this is by far my favorite way to make self-portraits. I place my camera on a tripod and set the interval timer so that it takes pictures every x seconds for y amount of time (this is designed to be used for time-lapse photography… to show a plant growing or star trails, for example). After setting the camera up, we just do whatever we are doing while the camera chugs away in the background taking a boatload of pictures. Now, there is a lot of boring crap and a lot of out of focus crap, not to mention a whole bunch where some or all of us are cut off, but there’s always a gem or two that make it worthwhile and it’s SO easy. Most Nikons have this feature built-in, but you can purchase an external interval timer (aka intervalometer) for many cameras. I also found, but haven’t experimented yet with a *free* app for the iPhone called Photo Timer +. It’s quite a bit more simplistic, taking a maximum of 10 pictures with intervals between shots ranging from 3 seconds to 3 minutes, but I assume it’ll be better than nothing, in a pinch.  I downloaded it and plan to try it out when we are out and about and I don’t have my “real” camera on me. Will be sure to keep you posted on how it works!!

I’m so excited for this! Hope you are too 😃