The best camera you can use to capture your child?  It’s whatever camera is closest to you.  In your hands.

I do not carry my professional camera around with me day and night.  It’s heavy, I worry about losing or breaking it (yep, I’m a bit of a worrier).  Also, West is in a phase where he really doesn’t respond well to that camera.  He almost runs and hides when it comes out.  At the very least he is difficult and begins to do the opposite of whatever I had the mind to capture in that moment.

BUT.  The camera on my phone?  The medium resolution but super-crappy lens camera that I carry around with me all day anyway?  He’s a ham for it!  Plus, it is always with me!

I have sooooo many pictures of West on my phone.  What parent doesn’t, right?  Here’s the good news.  You can print those photos.  You can.  Not at an 8×10 size, but you can print them out small (okay, tiny by photographer standards).

You also don’t need to have an iPhone to take good photos with your camera.  I have an Android right now and I use an app called Retro Camera.  My profile photo on facebook is another phone camera shot with this app.  It is one of my favorite photos of West from this time in our lives because of the action and playfulness it captures.  (Um, yes, I’d love to have an iPhone.  I am a little jealous of all you instagramming folks…but I’m rockin’ what I got right now ).

The first images I have of West after he was born were taken with my crappy Blackberry Pearl, for goodness sakes.  You can bet your pants I printed those out!  Yes, of course I wish I had that beautiful, classic image of me bringing him to the breast for the first time…the emotion in my eyes.  I wish that, but I wouldn’t have traded how present my husband was and how together we were as a new family in those first few hours.  Not for anything.

SO, here are some quick images from yesterday.  We started the day a tad rough so we did what often heals our bumps – we painted.  I started by putting paint blobs in plastic bags so he could squish them around (good idea, Theresa!).  My boy, though, he just wanted to open the bags.  I guess that’s what I get for teaching him how to do that a while back

I cut tiny holes in the corners of the bags and let him squish the contents out.  He squished and squished and painted and painted.  West doesn’t usually enjoy having his hands all covered in paint but yesterday was different.  I had to stop him from painting things in the house (like the dishwasher).  Oy.  It was a good way to start off the morning, though.

Had I gotten out the “big camera,” I’m sure he would have closed down.  As it was he just played and played.  My sweet, painting boy.

Take some photos of your child today.  6 months from now, you’ll be glad you did!  When you are ready to have a professional session done with lots of images to swoon over…give me a call