On Angles, Attitude, Action…and a New Face!

Hey Fabulous Readers of Fussy!  I’m Christine from Watch me!  No, watch me! and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to babysit Fussy’s blog while she’s sleep deprived bonding with that delicious new baby boy of hers.  You may also know me as Dr. Diva over at Blissfully Domestic, where I am the Healthy Living Diva.

Fussy has a supah special place in my heart because she is my BFOTI (Best Friend on the Internet, as she taught me).  I’m lucky to be able to call such a sweet, loyal, brilliant, hilarious, and all around amazing person friend.

She’s been inspiring as well.  She convinced me to show my face on my blog, "People like to see the face of who their reading," she bossed gently explained (you know I love your help, Fussy!).  She’s introduced me to many other amazing bloggers.  She’s sent me gorgeous bling to cheer me up when I was going through tough times.  She got me tweeting, stumbling, diva’ing, and fightin’ the frump.

Fussy also convinced me to put my photo skills to use by creating a how-to series Christine’s Photography Secrets. I wrote several (this one featured two of Fussy’s gorgeous boys) but because I am lazy super busy, I sort of let that project fall into the abyss of forgotten ethernet projects.

But no more!  In honor of the honor of being allowed to babysit this loverly blog, I hereby announce that I am resurrecting my weekly series.  And the first one is here, you wonderful Fussy readers.  I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. I promised Fussy I’d have a special surprise for her with this guest post…and it is that I am featuring family snapshots of (~drum roll~) my sweet daughter, whose face has never graced my own blog!  That’s how much I love you and your readers, Fussy!

P.P.S.  Love those shoes!  Fussy’s right, her readers are beautiful!

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Today we’re going to talk about what I call the Three A’s of Photography: Angles, Attitude, and Action. I like to keep these concepts knocking around in my head while I’m shooting snapshots of my kids.  They aren’t hard and fast rules of photography, but rather guidelines for taking more creative and energetic family photos…ones that help capture everyday memories.

Angles

I try to remember to chose dynamic vantage points…that is, rather than just standing there and snapping away (which, believe me, I still do all the time), I might get down on their level (or even slightly lower) and shoot from there. 

Here’s my girl when she was just a wee babe; I crouched down on our picnic blanket as much as I could, so that I was almost looking up at her:

Sigh. Look at those chubby cheeks. That was one of my favorite dresses on her when she was that age.

Or, sometimes I might shoot from a higher perspective…for example, as she is climbing at the playground:

It’s a bit blurry, but I like that here…not every shot needs to be technically perfect to hold your wonderful memories perfectly.

Attitude

By this I mean, resist the urge to only take photos until your subject is smiling.  Our loved ones have a wide range of emotions, and I try to capture as much of the spectrum as possible.

Here’s my sweetie in gymnastics, solidly concentrating upon her coach’s instructions:

Could it really be that she’s grown out of that leotard?

In this next shot we were playing hide-and-seek in a field, and I caught a look on her face that was half relieved to be found and half frustrated that she was found:

Mama always knew where you were, sweetheart.  You’ll understand when you’re a mommy.

Action

Go ahead, take pictures that seem to make no sense at the time…as your kids are running or reading or swinging or sliding or watching TV or jumping or whatever, just grab your camera and snap away.  These are the moments that make up your life; document them!

My friend and I were at the park with our girls when I took this picture; she looked at me like I was nuts when I started snapping random shots of my girl trotting around, "She’s not doing anything," she said.  "She’s being her," I answered.

And her is so, so lovely.

Thanks, Fussy, for letting me babysit here, and I totally was NOT on the phone the whole time, and I didn’t raid your pantry.  Honestly!