Catching the Moment.

I realized something as I watched my mother in law take 4 pictures of 2 of my nieces. She was asking them to say cheese and trying to get them both smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. That’s not an easy feat especially when they’re both in hyper moods, and 4 years old. I realized how different I take my pictures. I knew I liked “moments” over “cheeses,” but in going through my more recent pictures, the only pictures I have of “cheeses” are of me, cause cheesin is what I do best.

I prefer to stand off to the side, let life happen, and capture it. Here’s an example below. The first one is the fam asking all the girls to smile for the camera, while I’m snapping from the side:

It’s cute. Ok, THEY’RE cute :) I can see how big they are, the nice dresses they’re wearing. I know it’s Easter. Or at least I hope it is… unless random plastic egg shaped toy hunting is your thing on the first day of summer. Or some random day like April 27th. But I don’t see any interaction, or personalities shining through.

Lets take a look at this one. Where the girls are enjoying their finds. Anticipation and smiles, wondering what’s in their treasured eggs. It’s sweet, and I feel like I’m right there with them, waiting to see what treats are about to be presented. And which chocolate I get to ask them to please share with Aunt Samantha ;)

Now take a look at the one below. The one where D is infatuated with her little sister, Little A. Wanting to hold her, show her the eggs, make her play with them. Big A shares an egg with Little A as well, while she is pouting, wishing she had enough strength to high tail it out of there.

Here’s another, showing the curiosity Big A still has with her eggs, and now D is reallyyy loving on her sister. How precious is this?!

So I try more angles, since straight on went out with film cameras. It’s still really staged, since they were placed there, after all. But it still feels real, in the moment.

Of course, not all cheese photos are bad. Sometimes I agree when one begs me to take a picture, says cheese, and then “LET ME SEE!” and it turns out oh, so cute.

What would these kids have done back when we had film? Waiting for it to develop? Oh the humanity! By the way, these pictures are from LAST Easter. Capturing those moments is especially nice when you realize how much they grow up in just one short year:

Make that 2 years. This was a year before the first set! Yeah, Little A wasn’t even born yet! Shh, don’t tell their parents they’re about to pick up M&M’s on the ground. And probably eat them. Oops.

And here’s one last cheesing for your viewing pleasure. We were all asked to say cheese, so what do Hussy and I do? Bunny ears. Hey, it’s allowed, it’s Easter! Then Big A wanted to make bunny ears, but it came out as peace signs :) D is not pleased at all, but the way she’s sitting is hilarious.

What’s your picture style? I know I’m not the only one with a “signature” way of doing things! Or a complete hypocrite for always cheesing hard when I see a camera pointed at me, yet don’t like taking cheese photos!