Family
I'm trying to get started on this photograph your family idea that Dave Brosha has encouraged us to do so many times. So here's my start. My Nephew, my Dad, and my 90-year-old Papa (still living on the farm by himself).
It's not the scene I had envisioned in my head earlier today when I decided we needed to do it. I had hoped to find a great spot in the yard where I could include the house, the yard, the garden, the farm, all those things that hold so many memories for all of us. But we ended up crammed for time with only a few minutes to snap this and an unwilling child.
But I guess the point is to take the shot, anyway. Sure, it would have been nice to include the things, but at the end of the day its not the things that hold the memories. It's the people.
This is something that is a challenge for me. For some reason I find it way harder to ask my family members if I can photograph them than to ask friends. Part of it is because I’m fully aware of how self-conscious my family members are. I know that other people are self-conscious too, but I’ve never heard them express it over and over as often as I hear it from family. It makes me sad. Because whether or not you are self-conscious, you should still exist in photos. Your kids don’t care if you haven’t lost that 10 pounds, neither does your spouse, or your grandkids. Maybe this is morbid, but when you die, and they look back at photos, don’t you want them to be reminded of you and all the fond memories you made?
Get pictures taken. Don’t wait to lose 10 pounds. Book those family photos, NOW. If you can’t afford a fantastic photographer, find someone cheaper. Get someone to take a photo every now and then of all of you, even if they’re just smartphone shots. Its better than nothing.