SETTING INTENTIONS FOR BETTER FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
With the invention of the smartphone, It is so easy to take picture after picture of your children, pets, yourself (hello selfies!), shopping reminders - anything really.
This has led to so many of us feeling photo overwhelm when we scroll through the photos on our phones.
How many times have you scrolled through what seems to be the same photo of your children, but just making different faces? Or how many times have you taken photos of the stadium while at a concert or baseball game, but realized afterward you forgot to take a photo of you and your family? (I am definitely guilty of this!)
Instead of taking photos willy-nilly, I find setting an intention (or set of intentions) helps you not only take better photos but helps you better enjoy the photos that you do take!
SETTING YOUR INTENTIONS
First, you must ask yourself - why do you take photos in the first place?
What is the purpose of this photo?
Are you looking to capture a specific & special moment? Or do you want to document your family milestones & life history? Are you looking to capture those everyday moments that make you smile? Are you just capturing what brings joy to your heart?
Personally, I like to take photos to document my family’s events & milestones AND for joy!
I am usually pretty good at remembering to photograph our family trips & events and I can usually be found photographing flowers anywhere I go since flowers make me happy and bring me joy.
But it can be very easy to take only filler photos if you aren’t careful with your intentions!
FILLER PHOTOS
Filler photos have the ability to cause a lot of photo clutter and can lose meaning in the years to come if there is no intention set.
For example, I have been guilty of taking photos of a baseball stadium, but nothing else! There was no evidence, picture wise, that my husband was with me, what team we were seeing or even what the outcome of the game was.
I didn’t have my intention set before going to the event!
Obviously, those photos got deleted, as they had no real story to them, but I could have saved myself the extra work if I had set an intention to properly document our time at the baseball game!
If taken with intention and purpose, filler photos will help tell your story and provide extra details.
By understanding “WHY” you take photos, will help you narrow down and remember what kinds of photos you want to take and keep in your collection.
Before clicking the shutter button, ask yourself “What is the purpose of this photo?”
Purpose #1 - DOCUMENTING LIFE
I believe the #1 reason people take photographs and have for numbers of years it to DOCUMENT their life!
They want to document special memories, special people and special life events. They want to prove they LIVED their life.
It can be easy to start documenting EVERYTHING, EVERY DAY. Which is why it is important to set an intention on WHAT you want to document.
Do you want to focus on milestones & events? Such as birthdays, anniversaries, family reunions?
Do you scrapbook and want to include both important details of a trip AND some cute “filler” photos?
Do you want to capture everyday life? Maybe your intention will be to capture just one photo every day or week.
Purpose #2 - REMEMBERING LOVED ONES
Take pictures of the people you are with and don’t forget about yourself!
What is a better photo? One of mom & dad at Disneyland OR one of the Disney castle?
In most cases, the photo of mom & dad at Disney will be the better picture and the one to pass onto the future family. It will be a photo that creates and fuels family stories & memories.
A picture of just Disney castle with no visual ties to your family will just be another picture of Disney castle - something you can easily find with a Google search!
The photographs of loved ones will be the ones cherished the most!
Purpose #3 - CAPTURING JOY
Sometimes nature has a way of showing up and catching our breath.
If you find joy in capturing nature’s beauty through flowers, sunsets, and other landscapes, then, by all means, allow that to be your purpose.
There is nothing better than when a smile crosses your face from a beautiful photograph.
But perhaps use these opportunities to strengthen your photography skills!
Try to really focus on the subject matter and the essence of how you feel in that moment, so it can be captured through the photograph you take.
Purpose #4 - REMINDERS
It is very easy to let our phones and photo galleries fill up with visual reminders - pictures we have taken while at the grocery store, a cute gift idea, or even paint colors for a renovation.
Generally, we don’t want these photos to live in our photo collections forever, so it is important that we set 2 intentions.
First is the intention to capture something we need to review, AND the second intention is to review AND delete the photo.
Tidy MemoriesTip:
Keep a journal (paper & pen or your favorite app - I like Google Keep) to help keep track of your favorite moments, daily events and travel itinerary. You can add these notes to your photobooks as journal entries or to the photo’s digital metadata.
What is your purpose for taking photos?
I would love to hear! Leave a comment below!