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.
The clip below is what we put on while sorting. It runs long enough to get through a month of photos.
What we got wrong
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.
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Star photos as you take them
When to stop
Some readers keep a short list of rules on a sticky note beside the computer. Ours says: faces first, then places, then anything that made us laugh. It is not scientific, but it stops the session turning into an evening of second-guessing.
Keep a note of what happened that month as you go. A few words beside a photo are worth far more than you expect a year later.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
A few small rules
A good caption answers the question someone will ask in twenty years. Who is that? Where were we? Why is everyone wet? Write the answer while you still know it, even if it feels too obvious to bother with today.
Watch the light at different times of day in your own home. Most houses have one window that is lovely for an hour every afternoon.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
What to look for
Try to include everyone. It is easy to end up with a book full of the children and none of the person holding the camera.
Ask someone else to look at your shortlist. They will spot the photo you were about to drop and the one you only kept out of habit.
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Leave the cover for last
- Star photos as you take them
Try it this month
Take one photo before the moment and one after. The before and after often say more than the moment itself.
If you miss a month, do not try to catch up all at once. Start again with this month and fill the gap later if you feel like it.
Picking is a skill. Like any skill, it gets faster.
Priya Nair, Paperleaf print room
Why it works
Leave a little space. Not every page needs to be full, and an empty corner gives the eye somewhere to rest.
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.
Keep it simple
Quiet months are worth printing too. A month with no trips and no birthdays often turns into the book people return to, because it shows what ordinary life looked like before it changed.
On the second pass, look for variety. A month of the same room and the same faces feels flat, even if each photo is lovely on its own.
- Pick a fixed day each month
- Leave the cover for last
- Keep one photo per day at most
Make it a habit
Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.
Set aside a fixed time for it. The last Sunday of the month works for a lot of readers because the week is quiet and the month is complete.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
Start with what you already have
Look back at last year’s book before you start this month’s. It reminds you what you enjoyed seeing again and what you skipped past, which makes this month’s choices quicker and kinder.
If two photos are nearly the same, keep the one where someone is doing something. A raised hand, a turned head or a half-finished sentence gives a picture life that a perfectly still pose rarely has, even when the still one is technically better.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
One more thing
Share the book when it arrives. Leaving it on the kitchen table for a day is often enough for everyone to have a look.
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.
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Leave the cover for last
- Include at least one place, not just faces
What we got wrong
Print sizes matter less than you think. A small photo surrounded by white space can feel more special than one stretched to fill the page.
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.
I thought I needed a better camera. I needed a better window.
Tom Okafor, Paperleaf
My grandmother cried when she got the book. That is all I wanted to say.
Try giving them the phone for a day. Worked with my teenager.
This is exactly the nudge I needed. My camera roll has four thousand photos from this year alone.
Thank you, that really made our day.
Same here! It got easier after the second month.
Ha, the box in our loft is full of strangers as well.
Does this work for older kids too? Mine are 11 and 14 and hide from the camera.
Any tips for doing this with twins? I end up with two of everything.
Any tips for doing this with twins? I end up with two of everything.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.