Momma Love & Tips For Capturing Precious Moments

When I found out I was expecting my first, I immediately went on the hunt for a nice camera. I knew that I would want to capture every precious moment to share with family and look at with my girls as they get older.   I purchased a Nikon D60.  I captured the birth of my daughter.  I photographed the first time she ate and had food smashed all over her face. I captured the moment my second was born and the day she met her big sister.  Years later, the memory on my computer is full of pictures and I am deleting apps to take pictures on my phone when I don’t have my camera with me capturing all the special moments.

Now that my girls got older, taking photographs have become more challenging.  Getting photographs of them together is nearly impossible unless I’m bribing.  In the six years I’ve had my camera, I’ve never learned to use it properly.  Not long ago, I attended an event hosted by Kristin from My Strange Family  on Tips on Photographing Kids with photographer and award-winning author of Momma Love: How The Mother Half Lives, Ali Smith.

Ali’s Tips:

1. Find an alternative word to CHEESE!  GUILTY.  I am that mom asking my girls to “SAY CHEESE”.  Since the session, I’ve noticed changing up the words and using words like candy or a word that might be funny has helped tremendously.
2. Let your child take the lead.  You might have something in mind but your child might not like that idea.  Don’t get stuck on that one result.  For my girls, they won’t take a picture unless they do a silly one first.
3. Look for the light.  Use lighting
4. Change your perspective.  Try different angles, not every picture has to have your child facing the camera.  Try changing the aperture on your camera to blur the background (I’ve always wondered how photographers do that).  Change your height and get down to the childs level.
5. Distract the child.  Ask about something they are interested in. Photograph their reactions & moments in between.
6. Don’t let other parents (or grandparents) interfere behind.
7. If taking family pictures, parents should always be ready for the shot.  Often parents try to distract and the photographer will miss a moment.

Image from mommalovethebook.com

Momma Love: How The Mother Half Lives: These passionate stories are bound by a respect for the job of motherhood and a belief that the health and well being of ALL mothers is crucial for a healthy society. Momma Love is not only about the love a mother shows. It’s about the love she is shown, by herself and the world around her.  I had the opportunity to look through the book with Ali.  I loved seeing the REAL moments moms encounter whether they dealt with the battle of breast-feeding in public or overcoming an illness.  A beautiful gift for a new mom.   Ali’s book is available here.

Follow Ali  on Twitter @mommaloveAli, Find Ali on Facebook, and see more of Ali’s beautiful work on Instagram @mommaloveAli.

Thank you Kristin for having us into your home and organizing such a wonderful event.  Thank you to Ali for all the wonderful tips, photographs and help navigating my camera.

Tags: Ali Smith, Kids, Momma Love: How The Mother Half Lives, My Strange Family, parenting, Photography, tips