I have always loved photography. I love how it captures a feeling; tells a story; and documents a specific time or event. When I became a mom, it was natural for me to be taking a ton of pictures of my gosh darn cute baby. I might have been biased but I am sure all moms thinks their child is the cutest. After a couple of months of taking pictures of my daughter, with her dad, with her grandparents, and with visitors, I realized that I was not in any of the pictures. Sure, sometimes my spouse would snap a picture of me and our daughter but it wasn’t the same. I felt left out of the picture (literally).
I tried to explain to my spouse why it was important to me to be in pictures with our daughter. I told him I want our daughter to look back at her pictures and see that I was part of her life. He said he understood and would try to take more pictures. The pictures he took of me were okay, I mean at least I was in them. Most of the time, the pictures were blurry or I looked like a hot mess. To be fair to him, he was not a professional photographer.
The only option I could come up with is hiring a professional photographer to take pictures of our family. At first, my spouse thought this was an unnecessary expense and he didn’t think we needed so many pictures. I think what he meant was - we didn’t need professional pictures on top of the 1000’s we each had on our phones. I told him it was important to me, I will bear the expense, and he is welcome to attend. (Of course, he did.)
The first professional photoshoot I did was before my daughter turned one year old. Since then, I have gotten professional photos done every single year. Now, you might ask, how do I work this “expense” into our annual budget? Well, I equate getting professional pictures with time. If you want to do something, you will find the time for it. If you want to buy or invest in something, you will find a way to afford it.
Hiring a professional photographer is not as expensive as you might think. If you don’t get pictures taken very often, your only interaction with a professional photographer may be at your wedding where you paid them quite a bit to document your entire wedding day. Family photos are significantly less because you are hiring a photographer for an hour or two. To put things in perspective, you can afford professional family photos if you don’t eat out 3-4 times, don’t buy a designer purse, or don’t get your nails done for a couple of months.
For me, instead of getting an item I may or may not need for my birthday or Christmas, I ask for professional pictures. One year, instead of buying a bunch of unnecessary souvenirs, we got professional pictures taken while on vacation. I found a photographer before we left on vacation and built in the cost into our vacation budget. The benefits and value of these pictures far outweigh anything else I could buy or get as a present. I now have beautiful pictures I can look back on, share with family and friends, and showcase on our walls at home. These photos bring me a ton of joy. To me, that is priceless.
Monica was formerly a wedding planner and know runs a website (www.wishahmon.com) that shares efficiency tips with other moms to hopes of helping them save time to maximize their motherhood. With the time she saves, Monica now spends her days planning and designing pretend parties with her daughter. You can follow Monica’s real #momlife through Instagram @wishahmon.
Vacation photo credit to Shari Saysomsack out of Kelowna BC
Tags: #yycmom #yycmomblog #wishahmon #yycphotographer #yycphotography #yycweddings #yycweddingphotographer #rememberwhenphotography
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