Children are the most photographed people on earth and the hardest to photograph well. They move, they hide and they pull faces the moment a camera appears. The good news is that you do not need them to cooperate.
Reader tip: one family keeps a paper list on the fridge of moments they want in the next book.
The book comes, and for one evening nobody looks at their phone.
Marcus, father of three
Why it works
Forget the perfect portrait. Aim for pictures that show what this age was really like.
The photos you will treasure most are rarely the posed ones. They are the ones where the child forgot you were there.
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Include at least one place, not just faces
- Write a few words beside the best ones
Make it a habit
Most people find the first month the hardest. You are learning what you like, and every photo feels important. By the third month you will notice yourself moving faster, trusting your first reaction and spending your time on the handful of close calls instead of on every single picture.
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
We don’t take more photos than we used to. We just look at them now.
Ana, a reader since the first year
One more thing
Make a cup of tea, sit somewhere comfortable and put the phone on do-not-disturb. The job goes faster when it does not compete with messages.
Lovely post. The bit about keeping the blurry photos made me go back and rescue a few.
The bit about writing names on the back hit home. We have a box of strangers in our loft.