Family Photos - It's not about You

You guys it is incredible to have dear friends as photographers! I mean truly incredible. Not only do you get to spend time with said dear friends while they casually snap some photos, but you get some beautiful images of your family out of the deal. They take the photos and then it's my job to actually DO something with them. 

I still need to do something with them, you know like replace engagement and wedding photos with up to date photos of our family in actual frames!

Anyhow, this selection of images has been sitting in my drafts for MONTHS! I mean truly, I think Ryan's 4 months old in these photos and I know that because Jack's hair is CRAZY and it was crazy up until the middle of April when the grandparents came to visit from Ireland! I look at these photos and think NEVER again will I let his hair get that long. He can do whatever he wants when he's older, but for now, I still have control over that mane, and never again will it be a mane like this one. 

All these photos are courtesy of Lightworks360. We have had the privilege of them capturing various milestones in our lives, none of which I'm just now realizing have had their own blog post. But they first did family photos for us when Jack was about 15 months old and I was just barely pregnant with Ryan, and again when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Ryan, and again for the photos below which I will dub a day in the life with Dad as I can tell by the photos that it was a Thursday, I was in the office and Ryan was in his pjs all day. And most recently they did photos for us when Ryan was about 10 months and Jack was 2 3/4. 

Anyhow, I love photos. Always have and always will. And I actually love having our photos taken because I have a terrible memory and photos help remind me of life's happenings. 

But my husband prefers to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. However, Tim (one part of Lightworks360) wrote this blog post a few months ago - It's not about You. And it has truly transformed Peter's thoughts on photos. He actually quotes Tim's "It's not about you" comment alot now and recognizes the value and the history and the story that a single image can tell. But truly, the photos we take now, aren't about us. "It's about your grandkids getting new insights to how they came to be. It's about capturing and archiving what it's like to be alive today which is like no other day in history. It's about looking back in 10, in 20, in 30 years, showing our kids and grandkids that yeah, you used to be a babe. And that this life of transient fleeting moments is more beautiful than we can begin to realize. Relax. It's not about you. This photo you're taking? It's a gift. Give it with an open heart."

And so I give you these images, with the pjs and the crazy mane and all with an open heart. As this is real life.