A few weeks ago, my beautifully talented friend Emily of Willa J. Photography took our family’s pictures.  And, I treasure them!  Upon receiving my disc in the mail, I quickly popped it in the computer to look through them all.  Then I showed them all to my girls.  Then, I showed them all to my husband.  And we went through them again and again.

It would have been easy to stop there.  Life gets busy, earthquakes hit, hurricanes come stormin’.  It’s tough getting those images printed.  But I did it quickly because I knew that putting off the project would would make it more and more difficult to complete.  So, after a few days of letting the images soak in, I picked some favorites.  I made a book and printed a variety of photos in different sizes at mpix.com.  I love books because we can keep it on the bookshelf, the coffee table, and look through them from time to time.  The prints go right up on the wall for us to enjoy.  (Note: Your children love seeing photos of themselves!  Hang those bad boys up…it makes your kiddos proud.)

I dragged the girls to IKEA–I love their inexpensive frames and accessories and their sweet rolls at the check-out line.  Hello, bribe!  I wanted to hang the photos in my hallway where I already had a couple of others hanging.  I measured, but not too carefully, and started pounding the nails.

Here’s the outcome.  My family, taken by Emily of Willa J. Photography.

And here are some pictures of my new hallway.  I love it.

When you get your images, print them.  Hang them.  Enjoy them!  Don’t let them stay on a disc or online.  Get them in your hands, then up on your walls.

One more note, we did this photo session for our 6th wedding anniversary because it had been 6 years since we had our pictures taken together.  I’m so glad that we got some of just the 2 of us.  When your thinking of getting images of your children, don’t forget yourself too.  Your worth it, and your children will thank you!

There are many simple ways to help you take better photos.  Here are a few.

1.  Practice.  I got a new camera last week, and I’m reading my manual, learning the controls, and practicing.  Every camera is different.  The better you know it, the better you will be.

Here’s Eloise being my practice subject.  Such a sweet practice subject she is!

2.  Step in front of a window, or better yet, a door.  Have your child right inside looking out at you.  This way you get a even light without the harsh light or shadows.

3.  Talk to your subject.  One dad recently laughed saying “awkward” as I pointed the camera at him.  It can be a little funny, especially for adults.  So talk about sports, the weather, political scandals.  Be a little silly and your subject will lighten up for you.  Or talk to you, too, like this one of Eloise.  And that’s great.  Just toss the talking photo and keep the smile of her after she tells her punch line.

4.  Oblige your subject.  If she wants to do a ballet pose, let her.  If she wants to show you her new stickers, let her.  If she wants to take your photo and you’re crazy enough to give her the camera, do it, with caution.  Give her something first and I bet she’ll cooperate with you later.

5.  Photograph them doing things they like.  Happy children make for memorable and good photos.  Like eating.  Who won’t smile when eating a muffin.

6.  Play pee-a-boo with your camera.  Get’s the 1 year olds every time.  It sometimes works on the dads too.  Nothing like making a fool out of yourself to get someone to relax, laugh, and give you a real smile.  Not the stiff fake stuff.

7.  And, like I said before, let them take a photo of you.  I had a big brother once who was not very interested in the photo session.  He was also tired of wrangling the younger siblings.  So I told him I needed him to take some photos of me after the session and he lit up.  Of course it was a risk to hand over my camera, but the risk was small and well worth the smile he gave me.

Take lots of photos of your children.  They are precious!