Hand-made invitations by Nana herself...

How gorgeous is this room? The 6 year old girl in me may or may not have squealed with delight when I walked in. *sigh*

Every detail was on point. Gold and rose china settings and a fruit cup awaited each little precious guest.

This pretty ballerina is the cutest cake I think I've ever seen. 

Each girl received party favors fit for a princess. Hand painted ballerina canvases. 

Ballerina ornaments...

Oh, and of course Tiara's...

Each received her very own ballerina tea set!

Upon arriving, each girl was given their own special ballerina tutu and dressed by a real live ballerina! 

The girls graced us with a few quick photos but it was time to party!

So many pink, delicious things to eat and drink!

Of course there was cake!

Strawberry tea!

and lots of toasts!

Can I have just one more, mom? 

Such a special and beautiful day for this mom of boys to photograph. 

0

If you read my previous blog post, you know the reason WHY I am so passionate about photography and capturing beautiful images of real life. If you didn't read it, go ahead and do it now. Don't worry I'll wait. 

Now that you're all caught up lets talk about HOW to get those images that you'll want to keep forever.

 This is one of my favorite images of my two older boys. They were sitting on the back porch one Sunday afternoon telling jokes. I love the connection between them here and on the days when all they can do is argue I am especially happy that this image hangs on a canvas in their room.

I've had a lot of friends and clients ask me for tips on taking photos of their kids who wont sit still long enough for a picture much less smile and look at the camera! Listen, I feel your pain, my kids have been my favorite (and most readily available) subjects since the beginning and let me tell you something, they are OVER IT. I can sometimes get them to smile (a big cheese smile) and look at the camera for special occasions but it usually involves some sort of bribe or threat and almost always ends in tears, my tears. Real talk. It's great to have a picture every now and then when everyone is looking at the camera and is well dressed and clean (ish) and hair is combed and shoes are on (sometimes) but if you look through old photos I bet you'll admit that it's rarely those posed photos that are your favorite and if they are it's for a different reason. What makes a great photo is the connection between the people in it, a look, an activity, something that tells the story of the real moment.

Thats great news for you because if I had to guess, some pretty real moments happen all day, every day in your home. I know they sure do in mine. Pretty, ugly, messy, loud, hysterical, heart wrenchingly REAL moments are all around us. Here are 5 tips that I have for capturing them.

1. MAKE ACTUAL MEMORIES

I am not above staging a moment for a great photograph but at the end of the day if you completely stage a photograph you're going to get staged emotions. That doesn't mean you can't set the moment up for success but it does mean you'll have to give up control a little (or a lot). When I do a lifestyle shoot in someone's home I apply these same principles. Be who you are and do what you do. Choose an activity that your family loves to do. Maybe it's not something you do all the time, maybe its even the first time you've ever done it or maybe you do it all the time. Will everyone love it? Then do it. Play a board game. Bake a cake. Play charades. Go outside. Plant a garden. Go for a walk. Take a trip somewhere. Make cookies in your pajamas. Make a fort in the living room with blankets and pillows. Whatever it is make it real. I'd put money on the fact that when its over you will have gotten a lot more than a great photo, you'll have a great memory. And, it might just be something your family decides to do more often. 

2. BE A NINJA.

What? Well, once everyone is involved in the activity you'll have to be a little sly to capture the moment. Nothing kills a great moment like the presence of a camera. Have you ever been to a party where a photographer has been hired? It's as if there is an automatic sensor on our cameras that makes otherwise joyful, casual conversation stop in its tracks. People stop mid sentence, get in some awkward side hug pose, smile and pray that the spinach quiche is not in their teeth. Let me free you. Unless the photographer asks you to pose for a picture, just keep doing exactly what you're doing! In event and lifestyle photography we aim to be invisible most of the time. The same is true for capturing pictures of your family at home. Go ahead and take out the camera (or iphone) right at the beginning of the activity. Have it ready to go but off to the side. Eventually everyone will forget that its there. Then when you see an opportunity snap a few photos without making a big deal out of it. Don't make any sort of announcement. Don't ask everyone to smile for the camera. Don't say "say cheese". (Ever) Just continue laughing and participating while you shoot. They may give pause for a moment but after a minute or two they'll forget about it.

3. INCLUDE YOURSELF! 

I'm as guilty of this as any mom and especially as a photographer. I have so many great photos of my kids and husband but if a stranger were to see our photo albums they would think that my husband is a single parent. Maybe a single parent who has a photographer follow him around everywhere, but single none the less. One of my resolutions this year is to be in more photos. If that means I have to hand the camera to my husband or mom every now and then and get over that I'm not always camera ready (read: never), then so be it. I might even hire a fellow photog this year because when it comes to authentic moments between people who love each other a self-timer or remote doesn't always cut it.

4. PRINT THEM!

Ok, so you've made the memory, captured the moment and somehow managed to get a few that with yourself included to. Now what? Don't keep your beautiful memories trapped on your computer or iphone! If you're the social media type, by all means share them. It's a great way to keep family and friends updated on your family but these memories are not primarily for them, they are for the people who made them. Get them printed and do it quickly. The longer you wait the less likely you are to do it. Prints are quick, easily accessible and so affordable these days you really have no good reason not to. Print them on a canvas, in a book, 8x10, 5x7, wallets, on a mug, on a mouse pad, get matching family t-shirts or make a life-size wall cling. Whatever you do, print them. If you must print them at a local convenience store hour photo, then do it but if you can wait a week or so take the extra step to get beautiful prints. Here's a site to free all of those adorable kid selfies from your iphone http://www.freeprintsnow.com/. My favorite is mpix.com but there are many printing sites that ensure that your photos are well done and will last a lifetime. My favorite way to print is in a yearly calendar. They make great gifts and when the year is done you get to keep or frame the prints.

The Essentials:

A camera: A common and true statement among photography lovers is "The best camera is the one you have with you." You don't have to have a big fancy camera to capture memorable images of your family. Not to mention that phone cameras are much better than they used to be. Feel free to use your phone camera, a point & shoot, a disposable camera or whatever else you have available, you're not a professional and these aren't going in the metropolitan museum of art so don't sweat it.

Light: Aside from real moments and a camera of some sort, you'll want to find the best light available. Natural light will provide the most pleasing photos. So, if you can get outside, do so. If you're inside, open the windows and the shades if possible.

A little bit of patience and a good attitude: Your family will take their 'mood cue' from you. If you're frustrated and short tempered because no one is cooperating, it'll only make things worse. If you can't get a good photo, let it go for a while. Be in the moment, let yourself have fun and enjoy the ones you're with and you win either way. Besides, if that great photo of your kids only reminds you of the time you lost your cool it may not be such a happy memory anyway. Real life makes for great photos, so live. "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family." - Mother Theresa

One more tip!

5. HIRE A PHOTOGRAPHER!

I can't follow you around all the time and I can't be present at all of your family functions. So, its necessary that you take your own family photos most of the time, They may not be technically perfect, shoot they may not even be in focus, but they'll be beautiful to you because you captured a part of your heart. That being said, there are times when you should hire a professional photographer. Why? For the same reason we eat at restaurants sometimes and don't make all of our own clothes. You already have to be great at the things you're great at. You can't do it all. And, sometimes its nice to let a professional cook your dinner or buy a new outfit at your favorite clothing store, or capture beautiful family memories that are frame worthy. If it's a mixture of candid and portrait photos that you want, I recommend an in-home lifestyle shoot. If it's posed, smiling, looking at the camera images you like then you'll want a family portrait session. Either way its worth the splurge from time to time.

I hope these tips help you to get beautiful photos of beautiful moments. Time with the ones we love is precious and those moments are fleeting. Take the time to capture them every now and then and help your children remember the important moments of their childhood when they have children and grandchildren of their own. 

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” Marc Riboud

Contact me at [email protected] and follow me on facebook.com/AbsurdandDignified

www.adigphotos.com

As a child my fascination with photography began with a 4-H project and a pack of disposable fuji cameras, but like many photographers my actual journey with capturing beautiful images began because of the impending birth of my first child. I've had a long standing wonder with beauty and knowing that I was about to give birth lit a fire in me that made me want to bottle every second of life with this new creation. While the auto settings on my camera sufficed for a while I realized quickly that a 'big' camera doesn't make a photographer. My passion quickly outran my ability so I began a long process of learning that continues today (and most likely will for many years!) I took courses, shadowed other photographers, watched videos, read everything I could get my hands on and practiced, practiced, practiced. I've taken thousands of photos of my own family hoping, like most parents, to stop time in some small way or at the very least to aid the failing memory of what we mothers like to call 'mom brain.' Those images are printed memories, helping us to hold the presence of the moment in our hands and carry it into the future in some small way. Taking photos of other people's families has became a sort of ministry to me. There they are living life in all of its messy, unscripted glory and I get to be a part of it for one fleeting moment and, with God's help, create images with them that will bring joy and meaning to their lives for years to come. Photography has given me new eyes. I look at the trees and the sky differently than I did before. Gorgeous light takes my breath away and most importantly, I have learned to glimpse the inherent dignity in every human face.

Y'all. We are so beautiful.

This year, I learned in a new way, the value of those capture memories.

In May of 2015, after a long suffering, my dad passed away. That moment of his death and the following hours was something I'd never experienced before, an emptiness thats hard to explain. Sure its true that he was 'in a better place' and his 'suffering was finally over' but for those of us left behind the pain was just beginning. I remember coming home and watching my kids that evening as if everything were a slow motion movie. I wanted to freeze time with them. I wanted everything to stop for just. one. minute. Later that evening, after the phone calls had been made and the arrangements were set my mom brought in a stack of photo albums for my brother and I to sift through. The 2 hours that followed were the beginning of a journey for me that would help me to find peace in my sweet daddy's death. His sickness had slowly taken him from us for many years but most notably in the last 5 years of his life. With a long, slow, illness like that you don't even notice how this person you've known forever is slipping away. His identity, to me, had become something new in these recent years, something that, while I will cherish forever, was not who he had been for the first 30 years of my life (and the first 70 of his). It happens so slowly that you almost don't notice. But there, in those moments, with those images, I was meeting my daddy all over again. The following days of his wake and funeral, while painful, were also intensely beautiful for me. Not only had we selected many many images that showed the story of his life but we were now accompanied by his best friends and other family members who collectively became the narrator of that same, wonderful story. Men who I had known in my youth as my dad's buddies now took me by the arm and led me to the wall of photos that we had created to tell me 'about the time that' Sammy won the hunting competition, golfed a perfect game, helped a poor, single mom buy a christmas tree for her kids... and hundreds more. These stories from those that loved him most stayed with me in the coming weeks after his death. The reintroduction to the man I had known before Huntington's disease was painful yet incredibly healing. Now, 8 months later those memories live in my heart and in the pictures displayed in my home.

I smile at he and my mothers wedding photo as I gather the laundry.

I laugh at the picture of him as a slick haired teenager participating in a potato sack race that sits on my living room shelf.

And I tell the stories of my childhood to my own children as we look at my first family photo. (This one is my favorite)

In the nursery sits a photo of him as a small boy.

As I rock my baby boy I stare at this sparkly eyed boy with golden curls and wonder about the day this photo was taken. My grandmother must have cherished it as much as I do the images of my own boys now. I think of my future grandchildren staring teary eyed at the many family photos that I've taken long after I'm gone..and suddenly I want to grab my camera and make more beautiful memories. 

Take beautiful photos of your family. (Yes, use your iphone. Yes print them!) Splurge when you can on professional photos. (Those tend to be the ones we frame and keep.) Make more memories. Tell Stories. Laugh. Love. Rinse. Repeat.

​ ​ ​

We started here, on this swing because Chantel announced emphatically that it was her absolute favorite spot on the grounds of St. Charles College in Grand Coteau. It's not hard to see why. Those trees are amazingly beautiful. 

We walked for about a minute until we came to this tree and it's low (ish) lying branches and John thought, "Oh, I know, I'll stick Chantel in a tree." It seemed to make so much sense at the time...

As they shared their story with me they told me how important the blessed Mother is to their relationship. Their wedding day, along with other important days in their story fall on Marian feast days. With that in mind we took a journey to the beautiful Marian statue and the two prayed a rosary along the way. These two are all about stories and boy do they have a beautiful one. The best parts of the story from my perspective  was not only in 'what' they said as they told it to me but in 'how' they were with each other as they told it. Their love for one another was so present and so JOYFUL!

They even brought a scrapbook of their journey so far and looked at it as if it were the first time.

Their own story is not the only one they enjoy sharing with each other. Chantel & John have a special love for Winnie-the-Pooh! Wanna talk cute? Beautiful setting, beautiful, joyful couple and the wisdom of Winnie the Pooh. I was done for. 

Even as the sun was giving us its last light I couldn't stop capturing these two. They were such a blast.

How about one last dance?

If you're ready to schedule a Lifestyle Session for your family, contact me today! [email protected]

Before you left for your trip you told me that I'd have to be 'the man of the house' while you were gone, so I got busy trying to do all of the things you do for us every day. ( I asked Charlie and Leo to help too. I hope you don't mind.)

First we got together all of the books that you read every morning before the sun comes up - you teach us so much every day about pretty much everything there is to know and we wanted to be like you...

but they were so big and there were soooo many. We got very tired and then Leo started to eat the pages so we had to move on.

            _________________________________________________________________________________________________

After we got mom her coffee (don't worry, we watch you so we did it juuust right) we decided to spend some time with each in other and Jesus in prayer like you teach us to do every morning...

I know just what you mean now when you say that we squirm SO MUCH. Leo tried to light his finger on fire half way through, so we said a quick Amen and moved on with our day.

            _________________________________________________________________________________

Next we got to the yard work! We thought the leaves would be an easy place to start!

that leaf blower shot me right up into the air! I felt like a rocket ship! It was awesome but it made it very hard to pick up all those leaves!

We thought maybe if we used your big truck, like you do when you haul tree branches and dirt for the garden, that it would all go a little easier...  but it broke down before we could make it out of the neighborhood! We all worked together to get it back home. (But, just between you and me, Charlie is not as strong as he looks.)

         __________________________________________________________

After all of that hard work it was time for some fun so we went inside to play a game. We love it when you play with us dad! (Board games are our favorite, even though I know sometimes you let Charlie win.)

Leo thought it was so funny when we sunk those battleships but then he started trying to eat the pieces so mom said we had to put it away...Sometimes she's not as fun as you are. She doesn't dance when she wins at her turn and she always makes me 'go fish' but she sure does like to cuddle with us...

In fact, we did find ONE thing that you do that we're pretty good at too...

loving mom! (Leo isn't as good as us quite yet but he's getting better every day!)

       _____________________________________________________________________________________

After a long day we put our pj's on and headed to bed. You never let us go to sleep without reading us the best bedtime stories so we thought we'd give that a shot too...

but Leo said that all that jumpin' on the bed made it too hard to read so we decided just to say our prayers and get some sleep. Mom says you'll be home soon and boy were we glad to hear that!

         _____________________________________________________________________________

At the end of the day we figured out that it would take a real life superhero to do all of the things you do for us! We're so happy that you're ours! Happy Father's Day dad!

 The box and bowtie were moms idea and I think it turned out adorable. I love it when parents have creative ideas for shoots! It was a long morning for this happy bunny.... but before I left I couldn't resist getting a few of my favorite kind of newborn images....that beautiful bond between baby and momma! Love love love it.