Appreciating The Little Moments

I have been taking pictures for friends and friends of friends now for several years and I love it. Nothing makes me happier than meeting a family at a beautiful, natural location and taking their pictures. Some posed pictures of course, but the ones that you can’t pose are by far my favorite.

On a recent family shoot, I walked around a gorgeous outdoor setting – stone steps, a tremendous natural backdrop of trees, rose bushes and paths covered in fallen leaves. My dream location. A spot will call out to me and we’ll stop for a few minutes and I’ll snap away. Most of the time since there are children involved, we stop, take breaks and just chat. Because the majority of my clients are friends or friends of friends, there’s always something to talk about which makes the time seem all the more unique and genuine. Kids need breaks, parents need breaks and I love to talk. Win-Win.

It’s during these breaks that sometimes I can manage to still keep taking pictures and some of them come out decent. If I’m lucky, I’ll get one that I’m really happy with too. Like this one for example.

We took a break to let the little guy explore and something happened that mom and him needed a moment. I didn’t want to invade their moment, but then thought that that’s what I’m here to do. I was far enough away that hopefully the click of the camera wasn’t distracting but I got the image I wanted and adore.

So, here’s to stepping back, taking a break and letting your client having a minute without the camera in their face. But here’s also to noticing something. Something that may have been a little thing but turned out to be a great moment.