What do I mean by this? Get in the pictures with your kids. I grew up around cameras my entire life, and as not only a doula but as a photographer HollyOhmanPhotography.com, I can’t tell you how important this is. I’ve done it myself, moved out of the photo when I felt that I didn’t look my best, or was just not in the mood, however you will regret it. These photos document your life. They document your children as they grow, they show the family pet, the house you brought your babies home to. You will want to remember and so will your kids.
My grandmother was one of my favorite humans to ever be on this planet, and guess what? I have two photographs of her. Now, keep in mind, my grandmother’s best friend was one of the best and most recognized portrait photographers in Milwaukee. He was at all family events, or just a regular Sunday afternoon and he always had his camera. He documented our life, Some of the most beautiful images I have are of my sister and I, and I love them. I have two of my grandmother. She really did hate the camera, almost appearing angry if someone were to sneak a photo. I will tell you this. The image of her that I love the most is one where she is sitting in the garden watching us play. Walter took it I’m sure without her knowledge. I remember that day perfectly. I recall the smell of the summer air, the food that she spent hours preparing for our family BBQ, the rose garden that I spent hours in, even how my sisters blond curly hair reflected the most beautiful light. These images are reminders of my youth, and I am so grateful to have them. I wish there were more.
I found myself really dodging the camera once my children were born. I had two boys very close together, and honestly I felt as if I was barely holding it together. I ran on little to no sleep, rarely had any makeup up, and my clothes didn’t fit the way that they once had. I had my new body, and frankly it was one that I didn’t love like the previous one. More on that later. I had access to the best photography equipment and I knew I had to document the boys. My stepfather gave me one of his Nikon cameras and I shot on film. I photographed everything. I also learned how to shoot on film, which I am grateful for. A lot of you reading this article have probably never had that luxury, and I say that with love, but there is something about film. I have thousands of images of the kids, and I am in very few. That was on purpose. Now as the boys are 18, 16, and 5, I wish there were more of me in the images. There are a lot of me with my five year old, because I know what it is like to hear my older boys pour over boxes of images from when they were little and actually ask, “Were you not there?” My first inclination is to be annoyed. Someone had to take those images. But honestly, I had plenty of people that could have taken the image so that I was there too. I didn’t feel like I looked the way I wanted to look, or I was just simply to busy.
GET IN THE FRAME. These images are not just for you, but for your children. They will ask. Where were you? They will remember the smell of the air, the old family car, and they will remember the details of the life that you have worked so hard to create. It does not matter that you have no makeup on, or that you are wearing the same sweatpants that you loved in college. (Can you tell I have been there?) They want to see YOU there. I recently had to find some images for my oldest son’s hockey banquet. We have since moved out of the house I brought him home to. There were bottles on the counter, and he sat on those old scratched up hardwood floors. It jogged all of the memories of the old house, having bottles to wash, the chaos of a house with babies. I now have the chaos of teenagers and a five year old. You will notice things in those images that you have taken for granted before, or simply forgotten as you move through the stages.
My stepfather and my father were both photographers, my father a hobbyist, and my step father made a 30 year career of it, and even now spends his free time photographing the beautiful landscape of Ely, MN. I love my camera. They made sure that I understood the importance of taking the picture. I want to encourage you to do one more thing with those images that you capture. Print them. Don’t just let all of those images sit on your phone or computer. Hang them in your home, Have them on hand. Look at them. As the years pass and you enter into the different stages of your life, look at them. You’ll see yourself in a new way. As the years pass, you will want to remember that new mom that was worried if everything she was doing was right. It will remind you that even as they get older, they still need you. Trust me on this one. You won’t regret it.