The Decision To Be In The Photos | RI Family Photographer
When you have children, it’s natural to have photos of them. All the time. When they are born and nearly every moment after, capturing all those changes. Watching them turn from tiny babies into mobile toddlers to elementary schoolers and on and on. Time doesn’t stop for anything or anyone and those photos will one day be the only evidence that your college freshman once made a funny face every time he ate carrots.
Of course now that our phones have cameras in them, you’re capturing photos of your kids all the time. And likely in between you’re scheduling sessions with a professional photographer every year or two, and marveling at how much they’ve changed since the last time you got photos. As a professional photographer, I’m delighted you are doing this. Photos of your kids are so important.
But you know what else is important? YOU being in the photo. Kids need and want their parents in photos. When they are younger, they may not be able to vocalize their feelings but they do know that seeing their entire family in a photo gives them a sense of well-being and belonging.
As children get older, they will look at photos from when they are younger as precious memories. And even further down the road, those photos will be appreciated by a generation who does not even exist yet. Your children’s children and even their children. There is a saying that we take photographs for people who aren’t even alive yet. That saying rings very true.
Despite all the positive reasons to be in photos, I, as a Charlestown RI family photographer, hear many reasons from moms and dads alike why now is not the time to be in photos with their kids. It’s because they want to lose ten pounds or get their hair done in a few months because it looks awful now or they have nothing to wear or they never look good in photos or they are so busy all the time, but maybe next fall or next year they won’t be so busy.
Let me tell you, none of the above matters. I’m speaking now not as a photographer but as a daughter. I love any photos my parents were in with us. I don’t look at what they’re wearing or what their hair looks like or what time of year it is or any of that. All I see is that they are there with me. I was happy when they decided to be in the photos with me. I’m even happier now. Those photos are memories for me, and for my brothers, and my nephews.
It is a conscious decision to be in photos. It is an important decision. It is one you will not regret. It is one your children will be forever grateful for. Make the decision to be in the photos. You may not know it now, but it could be one of the most important decisions you ever make.