Get in your images | Cornwall & Ottawa Photographer
This post has been in my mind for awhile now..especially since I just printed photos to update our family albums. As I was looking through the images, it struck me that I have hundreds of the kids, they are happy & enjoying childhood. But how many are there with myself in the picture? Ten....I counted them..there were 10! These photos were taken throughout the last 3 years & there were 10 of me actually in them.
Now, I am like most of us Mom's, we don't like having our photos taken..like ever! We are always our own biggest critic, especially after having children. Gained some extra pounds, bags under our eyes from exhaustion, haven't washed our hair in days..not exactly feeling photo ready. Instead we take hundreds of snapshots of our babies, thinking "when I lose the baby weight then I will have photos done." But, do we ever really fit into our pre-baby skinny jeans? Does that mean you will never have a photo taken of you & your children?
After each of my children were born, there was always a kind nurse who made sure to take a photo of us with our newborn. At the time I always disliked this particular nurse...I mean who really wants a photo of yourself all red faced, hair a mess, sweaty, exhausted & with those awesome gowns on. But, she knew how priceless that first photo really is. As I look back at them now, I want to hug that lovely nurse(s) who had the forethought to do that for us! Now, I don't see the the red faced, sweaty, exhausted Jenn but I suddenly see what other people saw...a tired but elated couple who just welcomed a new member to their family. I realized that my children will not see what the critic in me sees 30 years from now. They'll just be happy to have a photo of that time of us when they first came into this world, together.
It seems logical for us to avoid the camera sporting our mommy bodies, not as young as we used to be, not always having the time to do our hair or makeup plus we might have a stain or two on our "good" clothes. But we really HAVE to make a effort to get in the images!! Our sons need to see how young, beautiful & human their moms were! Our daughters need to see how being true to ourselves, open, real & vulnerable is ok..the real normal! Just because we don't like what we see in our own pictures, isn't what our children see when they look at the same picture. They do see our familiar face, our warm eyes, the arms that hold them in a loving embrace, the hands that wipe away the tears, the lines that mean we have laughed with them & most of all our joyful smile!! They really don't care if you look like a supermodel...you are their mom & they love you just the way you are!
So, when all is said & done if I can't get in the picture for myself, I want to do it for my family! I want to be in the picture to give them a visual memory of me...of us as a family! As we all know, life goes by so fast & once someone is gone..all you have left are the images.
