The Family Picture

I really love taking family pictures.  Why?  Every family is so different.  With different dynamics, different personalities, and different looks, I love the challenge of capturing everyone's personality and the way they interact with each other in one photo.  It's actually easier for me to capture that in families that I don't know already.  I think it's because I can take an objective look at them and see almost instantly how they all relate to each other.  My favorite kind of family picture is the silly picture.  You can tell how much fun a family has together by how quickly they all pile on when I suggest doing something crazy and a little out of the ordinary for a picture.

I know the family in the picture above because they're my family.  They're my husband's family, or half of it, to be more specific.  I'm always honored to be asked to take a family picture.  And sometimes I'm not asked, I just volunteer to do it because I know that 1, 10, or 50 years from now we're all going to look back and be so happy we took the time to take the picture.

With the holiday season in full swing, I encourage you all to take the time to take the picture.  It doesn't matter how polished your photography skills are or are not, just take the pictures.  Trust me, you'll be happy you did.  One of my favorite things to do as an adult, is to look at all the slide pictures my dad took when I was a child.  A stroll down memory lane always puts me in a good mood....even if there are significantly more pictures of my brother than of me.  You know how it is, the oldest child always has the most pictures and the youngest child only has a few, fuzzy snapshots of them wearing hand-me-down boys clothing with their hair wild and unkept and their faces dirty from playing in the mud.  Who am I kidding, my dad didn't take fuzzy snapshots.  He took good snapshots....of my brother.  Anyway, I leave you with these words.  Take the time to take the pictures.  And then share them.