Happy Mother's Day
I take a lot of photos. Professionally and personally. My phone is overloaded with images, and I never have enough memory cards for my big camera.
I also have a terrible habit of taking a lot of photos of my own kids, but then never doing anything with those images. This is usually because when it comes to editing, business comes first. I prioritize my client images before my own personal photos, because personal images are for just for fun and for me. And it goes without saying that it's best practice to serve your clients who have paid you for your talent first, and just-for-fun personal family photos come after that.
That all being said, the time I've had at home in recent months due to COVID-19 gave me a rare opportunity to actually take and edit a complete set of photos of my boys. It's such an unheard of thing for me. Typically, I have a great idea, or something I want to try, or just a setting I've been daydreaming of capturing them in. I set it up quickly snaps hundreds of photos of the boys, and because I have little time to commit to them, I usually only end up editing maybe 3-8 photos. Then those images get stored away, forgotten. This cycle has been repeated many many times when it comes to my personal images. Well, not this time!
Before the stay at home order began in Florida, I stocked up on some fun at home items for the kids, because I knew it was coming based on the rest of the country. One of these things was a bubble machine, and let me tell you it was a huge success. We got this one at Target, and it was the best $10 spent for what's totaled to hours of entertainment overall.
The best thing about these images is that I had no purpose for them. They were not set up to be a gift (although I did end up using them for some Mother's Day gifts because they are cuuute), they weren't serving my business, and they weren't a request made by anyone. We walked into our backyard, turned on the bubble machine, and my amazing husband chased our crazy toddler around over and over again through the bubbles while I clicked away with my camera. These were for fun. They were fun to take, and fun to edit. And I actually got to edit every single image that I liked. Not just a quick 3. Not one right now, maybe one later, and then three more in two weeks when I have fewer things going on. Alllllll of them.
I'm thankful for this unexpected time with at home with the family. And even though financially it has been stressful, the silver lining to me is in these photos, and I'm happy to have them to document this time. And what better day to share these than on Mother's Day? So Happy Mother's Day!
I do have to say a special thanks to Shane, who never complains about having his photo taken, even as he has gotten older. He is so handsome and always takes a perfect photo.
One day Wesley might not be too happy about this last photo. But until then it's still adorable. :) Happy Mother's Day!