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.
This is how the two pictures sit together on one spread.
A few small rules
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.
- Write a few words beside the best ones
- Hand the camera to someone else
- Back up before deleting anything
One more thing
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.
If a month feels thin, look again at the photos you took without thinking. The best ones are often hiding there.
My mum reads the captions more than she looks at the pictures.
Leila, who writes every caption by hand
When to stop
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.
Back up before you delete anything. It takes a minute and removes the fear that stops people from clearing out at all.
Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.
Linked from Indoors in winter: making the most of a dark afternoon
Any tips for doing this with twins? I end up with two of everything.
Agreed, this was the tip that worked for us too.
So glad it helped. Let us know how the first book turns out.
Such a simple idea and I had never tried it. Doing it tonight.
That is lovely to hear. Say hello to your grandmother from all of us.
Older kids are tricky. Asking them to take some of the photos works better than chasing them.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.
Saving this for the end of the month. Last Sunday it is.
This is exactly the nudge I needed. My camera roll has four thousand photos from this year alone.
Lovely post. The bit about keeping the blurry photos made me go back and rescue a few.