Photography Skills Help When You Are A Parent

My family thinks I'm weird when it comes to taking photographs of my kids. Hey, I'm an artist and photographer (Janet E Gorman Photography). Of course I'm weird and a bit of a perfectionist. This is what I do with my photography skills as a mother...

1. I take monthly shots to show the growth of my kids. I tried going to Sears Photo Studio when my toddler was three months old. HORRIBLE! Just horrible. Luckily I'm a photographer, 'cause I will never have to endure the disasters they call portraits, again.

2. I don't always take great photos of my kids. Sometimes I just want to be a mom taking pictures. With three kids to run me wild, I sometimes have to grab the camera quickly and just point, shoot, and hope for the best. Most of the time, those are the best photos anyway. Random and in the moment.

4. But when I want a good photograph, I take a lot to get it just right.

5. Sometimes I have to do a little finagling to get everyone to look the way I want.

Yup. I take different parts, in the case above, my son's and my toddler's heads, and re-do them. I don't do it all the time. In fact, I rarely have to do it, but this is one shot that called for it.
FYI - I only re-did my son's head because my husband didn't like the tilt of the head our son had. So I guess I'm not the only weird one.

Just Like Her Mommy

My daughter, Lily, is 3 years old and is so very sarcastic, witty, and funny. Of course she drives us crazy at times, what 3 year old wouldn't? But some of the things she comes up with are just amazing and she has such a wonderful imagination. Here's a few examples:

1. It was bedtime, I forget when. I'll say about 6 months ago. Anyway, Lily said she couldn't sleep because she was scared of the monster in her bedroom. I told her she should introduce herself to the monster. Maybe he is scared of her. Well, needless to say, "Roar" has been her friend ever since. She plays with him and they hold hands. It's kinda creepy the way she "looks" at him as if there really is someone there. She refers to him as "My Friend Roar" and he goes almost everywhere with her. Oh, and we just watched the movie Iron Giant and now she has a robot friend, too.
2. Lily closes her door for bedtime. She stands there for a second then starts rubbing the door. She hugs it, as best as you can hug something you can't put your arms around. Then she whispers, "I love you door" and gives it a kiss.

As a young child, I too cared for inanimate objects. I thought everything had feelings. Everything. I slept with a chair because I thought it had feelings and I didn't want it to feel left out while all of my stuffed animals and dolls were on my bed. Yes, I was that weird! I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Me, circa 1981 (about the same age or just a tad bit older than Lily) with my favorite chair