Masters of Photography: Bruce Davidson, Master of the Subway

By: James Maher

#Brooklyn#Civilrights#Photographs

Coney Island, NY. 1959. From Brooklyn Gang – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

We can all learn a great deal by studying the work of photographer, Bruce Davidson. Born near Chicago in 1933, Davidson has extensively photographed for over 50 years, including subjects such as the Civil Rights Movement in the early ’60s, circus performers, a Brooklyn gang, Spanish Harlem, and a five year project on New York’s subway system in the gritty days of the ‘80s. A few of his main influences were Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Davidson joined the Magnum photo agency in 1958.
Besides Davidson’s intimate photographic style, which you need to view a few of his projects in their entirety to get a feel for, there are a few very important lessons that he can teach you about your own work.
Much of Davidson’s work was focused on series and projects. One of his most important works is East 100th Street, where he captured life within a single block in East Harlem in the late ’60s. While many photographers may have tried to capture East Harlem in its entirety, Davidson honed in. He got familiar with a smaller area with a lot of life, and told broad stories by narrowing the subject matter. By focusing on a small part of a large area, he was able to become much more familiar and intimate with his subjects.

East 100th Street, Spanish Harlem, 1966 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

Davidson also spent time following a Brooklyn gang of youths called the Jokers in 1959, and he created a series of civil rights work when he following a group of freedom riders in the south (in 1961) through dangerous situations.
Besides his technical ability, one of Davidson’s main strengths was figuring out where the interesting stories were and putting himself where the action was. Then, he got close and familiar to his subjects. That idea might make you nervous, but based on some of his writings you can see that he was nervous at points as well. However, he did not let that stop him from doing it. He got close with his subjects and this closeness is shown within his images. It is one of the most important aspects of why his photographs are so successful.

New York City, 1962 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

While this intimacy was very important in his work, Davidson did not seem to think of himself as a documentary photographer, stating, “Documentary photography suggests you just stand back, that you’re not in the picture, you’re just recording. I am in the picture, believe me. I am in the picture but I am not the picture.”
Starting in 1980, Davidson began an extensive five year project documenting the New York Subway system. The subway project is what hits closest to home for me, and it is inspiring to read about. When you visit New York City it is interesting to compare his photographs to the modern day look of the subway system. It helps to see your own work through this perspective. How would he do his project today? The subway system looks so much different, so how can I also capture it in an interesting way?

NYC Subway, 1980 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

When talking about prolific photographers, it is easy to think that we cannot repeat their success. They seem bolder and more fearless. However, when you read Davidson’s quotes about the project, he does not sound much different than any of us would probably feel. He was just self aware enough and able to push through it. It is inspiring to say the least.

“As I went down the subway stairs, through the turnstile, and onto the darkened station platform, a sinking sense of fear gripped me. I grew alert, and looked around to see who might be standing by, waiting to attack. The subway was dangerous at any time of the day or night, and everyone who rode it knew this and was on guard at all times; a day didn’t go by without the newspapers reporting yet another hideous subway crime. Passengers on the platform looked at me, with my expensive camera around my neck, in a way that made me feel like a tourist—or a deranged person.

It was hard for me to approach even a little old lady. There’s a barrier between people riding the subway—eyes are averted, a wall is set up. To break through this painful tension I had to act quickly, on impulse, for if I hesitated, my subject might get off at the next station and be lost forever. I dealt with this in several ways. Often I would just approach the person: “Excuse me. I’m doing a book on the subway and would like to take a photograph of you. I’ll send you a print.” If they hesitated, I would pull out my portfolio and show them my subway work; if they said no, it was no forever. Sometimes, I’d take the picture, then apologize, explaining that the mood was so stunning I couldn’t break it, and hoped they didn’t mind. There were times I would take the picture without saying anything at all. But even with this last approach, my flash made my presence known. When it went off, everyone in the car knew that an event was taking place—the spotlight was on someone. It also announced to any potential thieves that there was a camera around. Well aware of that, I often changed cars or trains after taking pictures.”

Read more from Davidson on this project: Train of Though: On the ‘Subway’ Photographs. Now it’s time to explore Davidson’s work and think about a photographic project that you can do in your own area.
Subway.

NYC Subway, 1980 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

Brooklyn Gang.

Brooklyn Gang, 1959 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

East 100th Street.

East 100th Street, Spanish Harlem, 1966 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

Circus

The Dwarf, Circus, Palisades, NJ. 1958 – Bruce Davidson/Magnum

Times of Change: Civil Rights. 1961-65.

Birmingham, Alabama, 1963 by Bruce Davidson/Magnum

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Tips on How to Take Better Instagram Photos

By: Lily Sawyer

Instagram is a visual platform with millions of images vying for your attention. Styling with Instagram in mind is key! But first, know what your purpose is.
#Portraits#Wedding#Photography

Know your purpose

You may be reading this because you have an interest in photography. You probably know that there is an array of lenses you can use but each lens has a specialty or a purpose. For example, the 85mm is great for portraits, the 14mm or 24mm for landscapes, macro/micro lenses for extreme close-ups, fast lenses for sports etc. In the same way, think of a style as your specific lens for a particular purpose, the purpose being your chosen genre on Instagram.

Genres

Before I offer tips, let’s look at a few genres: Portraits, Wedding, Interiors, Products, Flat-lays, Landscapes. But, as in business, the more niche you are, the stronger your account will look. So don’t just stop at these genres, niche deeper. For example, Black and White Portraits, Beach Weddings, Handmade Ceramics, Moody Landscapes.
If you like, you can go further: Black and White Wedding Photography, Fine Art Newborn Portraits, Beach Elopement Weddings, Handmade Ceramic Tableware, Moody Forest Landscapes, Dark Maximalist Eclectic Interiors…
Instagram followers tend to like consistency in what they see on your squares so be sure to leverage that. The more consistent your work is, the more you appear as an expert in what you are showing. Instagram gurus say that you can post 10% of other things. Particularly, those things that pertain to your personal life, which your followers may find interesting. However, keep the 90% consistent with the purpose of your account.
With that preamble out of the way, here are my tips on how to take better photos on Instagram for your chosen genre/niche. These are all my opinions so take what you find useful and leave the rest.

1. Interiors

I have found, from running an interiors page myself layered.home with a daily growing following, that photos which are taken further back at wide angles do well. The interiors audience is generally more interested in seeing a wider view of an entire room.
Not only that, wider views shot from a slightly angular position do better than those taken from a straight-on frontal view. Be mindful of your lighting too. Light coming from a window or one side is more appealing to the eye compared to bright, flat lighting where everything is evenly illuminated. So whenever you take photos, just remember side lighting.
If the side opposite the light source is too dark, you may want to add a reflector or a piece of white card to take the edge off the darkness. Of course, this will work easily with smaller spaces or objects but for entire rooms would it be more difficult. You would need to add an extra light if using artificial light or open more windows.
So they can take pictures at any time of day, some interior accounts use daylight-balanced continuous lighting. You just need to position them so that they look natural like window light. Turn off all lights and use only one type of light source, preferably natural light (this is where a tripod comes in handy) in order to avoid mixed lighting.
But this isn’t to say you can’t break the rules!

2. Portraits

It is better, as mentioned above, to stick to one type or style of portrait. For example, if you are after a brightly lit image with a very airy feel to it with a dreamy backdrop, try and keep that feel going in all your images. Don’t go bright one post and dark and moody the next.
If you photograph headshots, make sure your squares show a lot of headshots rather than a mixture of full body, super-close-up, half-length etc. Again you can have this variation but keep it to a minimum.
With one look at your nine squares, a follower should be able to already have an idea of your style and what type of photography your page is about. This goes with styling clothes too. You could go with a vintage touch for example, or a color palette kept to a minimum (usually up to four colors work). Unless your feed is all about rainbow colors or candy colors and in which case make that your purpose.
It is also important that your editing is consistent like your color treatment and tones. Stick to color and the same type of editing. From time to time, you could sneak in a black and white or a series. But again, only at a minimum.

3. Product

When it comes to product photography, you want to show the products close-up so the viewer can see the features and benefits of the product. There are tools you can use such as a small white lightbox (also known as a light tent) to illuminate your product evenly.
This is essential if you are after a white seamless background enveloping your product. Or you can go for naturally lit dramatic lighting by using side window light only from a 45-degree angle and creating more dramatic light and dark tone going on. You can also use a dark backdrop with window lighting from the front to direct total focus on your product.

4. Flatlays

This birds-eye-view style has become very popular especially when using intentionally-styled products within a context or a story. Technically, this is somewhat tricky because you lose the angles afforded by other points of view. To counteract this loss, add contrast to make your product stand out.
You need the flat lay image to grab attention. A symmetrical composition usually works here, where the product is in the middle (as shown in the photo above – taken with an iPhone) rather than using the Rule of Thirds. You can always use other minor elements around your main product to strengthen your composition with some asymmetrical touches without stealing the limelight.

A couple of very important general tips!

The photos above were taken with an iPhone

On editing: Please, please do NOT over edit

I often see this on some Instagram accounts and, to be honest, it makes me cringe. Over-edited images have a way of looking unnatural.
Look closely at the four photos above. The first photo is straight out of the phone camera. The second has very gentle editing applied. The blacks have been slightly enhanced to look richer, and the highlights have been reduced to balance the image. It may not be dramatic, but it is a real depiction of the space and the items within it.
The third photo has blown-out whites, so you can’t see any details. Half of the wallpaper is over-exposed and the sheepskin is bereft of details. You can’t even see the fairy lights on it. The third image is over-edited. Technically speaking, what was an okay image to start with has become a bad image.
The blacks are the ‘clipped’ on the 4th photo, which is also too dark. Clipping is a photography term that means the intensity falls out of the minimum or maximum range. You do not see any details. In this instance, the blacks reach a point where the shadows of the plant blend into the wall. The cushion also blends into the skin it’s sitting on, and the whites of the framed prints have become blue.
The key word in editing is “enhance,” not “kill.” Use just enough contrast or blacks otherwise your photos may look entirely out of this world, and that in the negative sense of the word. Be gentle when moving those contrast, structure, shadows and blacks sliders as they affect the dark areas. Avoid using the saturation slider. It is better to add warmth and vibrancy rather than touching that saturation slider which can make your colors join the neon spectrum.
Be careful when using filters. Don’t apply the filters at 100% strength. Play around with the sliders to see how the photo looks. Start at 50% and go from there on both ends. Filters should generally be used at about 35% to make your photos pop. This approximation is assuming the picture is an okay photo from the start.

White balance

Be mindful of color cast in your image. A color cast is a strong shift in the overall color of the image that usually comes from artificial light such as tungsten, which leaves a very yellow or orange cast. Similarly, fluorescent lighting which gives off a green cast especially on the areas of the photo that are meant to be white.
Looking at the photos above, which one do you think has good white balance? Where is the white still white and the fairy lights have a warm glow?
You want a white balance that looks natural. That is, where the whites look white, not yellow, pink, magenta or green. Neutral white with added warmth is good. It doesn’t need to be perfectly white – especially for Instagram posts – but at least it still looks white without unnatural color tints.

Carousel

Take advantage of the carousel where you can post more images. Use it to hide what you want to post and show but do not want to be the front cover of your post. Doing so still makes your squares look consistently strong. However, you can deviate from your style and purpose behind the front image using this feature. For example, with interiors, you can add close-ups of the space or photos of products featured within the space.
With portraits, you can add other angles and viewpoints. You can use the “before and after” concept where your front page is the after and the carousel holds all the before or work-in-progress pictures. This feature is great for adding more content and value to your page without weakening your Instagram brand.

Instagram is a powerful visual social media platform. However, with millions of images competing against yours, it is vital that you use strong images to stop people on their scrolling tracks!
I hope you found some of these tips helpful to grow your Instagram account!

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7 Easy Ways to be More Creative Every Day

By: Anthony Epes

#photos#Photography#Creative

I have been a photographer for as long as I can remember. As a visual person, I get excited when I see beautiful light and love to explore the world with my camera and create interesting images from this vast, magnificent world.
I suspect you are the same.
There is something about taking photos that is so enriching to our lives. Connecting us more closely to our surroundings, showing us how to observe the world in a deep and meaningful way.
And yet, it is so easy to be pulled away from the things that we love to do, and which are most likely listed in our minds as ‘not essential.’
Our explorations with our cameras aren’t our jobs, nor is looking after our children or cleaning our houses.

As a father to two young kids and running a more than full-time photography business, it can feel almost decadent to spend an afternoon on my own just wandering around, exploring and taking photos. After all, there are always more important things to do, right?
But I counter that, actually, taking photos is essential for our lives. It is what we are called to do.
Making something, whatever it is that you are passionate about, is what we are alive for, surely?
So with our busy lives, how do we become more creative?

Here are 7 Easy Ways to be More Creative Every Day

1. At any moment we can refine our ability to see the world around us

Taking photos isn’t just about taking photos – it’s about taking all of the experiences we have on a daily basis and turning them into an expression of how we think and feel about the world.
As photographers, we want to observe the world by looking at the moments of life. Even if it’s just for that one moment. After all, if we are not seeing the moments of our lives, you could say we are not seeing our lives at all.
When we wake early in the morning and see the light eagerly streaming into our room, between all the little gaps between the curtains and the wall, we stop and we watch. We pay attention, we don’t always rush off.

And when are driving home late from work. The night is so dark, so enveloping, as we meander through the city, with bursts of light and activity every now and again, around stop lights, or rows of shops or outside restaurants.
Beyond that, it’s just meditative darkness, with tiny flares of soft light along the road. The darkness is closing us into our car.
We don’t allow our minds to race off into thoughts of the day. We pay attention. Looking at the darkness, we feel it. We notice.
These are all sensations in our daily life that we can pay attention to. This all helps with the art of seeing, or as it could also be called, the art of paying attention to our environment.

It sounds very strange to say this, but unless you are consciously cultivating being present – or are naturally good at it – then it’s likely you spend most of your day totally lost in busyness.
There is nothing wrong with that. However, in order to create something you need to carve out time and space.
Don’t just wait until you have time. Because either it won’t come – there are always more things to do – or when you get time, the pressure to instantly create will be too great.
Spend time every day developing a practice of being present, of looking around you, of seeing what is really there. Then, when you actually pick up your camera, it will be easier to cultivate the mood within you of a creative, relaxed, present flow state.

2. Reject perfectionism

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” Anne Lamott

One of the major barriers to being creative is the most insidious, painful and stressful emotion – perfectionism.
I call it an emotion because it envelops and paralyzes us when getting started with a project. It’s very hard to get up, push past perfectionism and get out the door.
For me, perfectionism can take many forms that seem logical, until I consciously pierce a hole in the flimsy argument. It used to be that I would become obsessed with having new gear. I couldn’t start a project until I had a new camera or lens, or the help of an assistant.

Then I realized this was the ultimate in procrastination. Either I did the project with the kit I had, or if that didn’t work, I found another project. I don’t mind buying new kit, in fact, I love it. However, I never buy a new kit because I am in a fit of perfectionism anymore.
Now perfectionism often comes to me in the form of: I have nothing unique to say about this place I want to photograph. It has been photographed so many times before by better photographers. What can I say that is new?
When I get emails from my students they often say: I don’t know enough about my camera/composition/ technique to take any good photos!
Even with very experienced amateurs, I see people who don’t believe in their skills and abilities with photography. They want just that little bit more advice or feedback. When really, they just need to keep taking photos.

As humans, we seem to have an innate ability not to recognize what we are doing well, and instead focus attention on the negative aspects of our skills.
Well, focusing on the negative is not going to get you very far. Like the writer, Anne Lamott says in the quote above, it will keep you oppressed your whole life.
It’s time to throw off the shackles of all that you are not and instead try to live with the ideas of imperfection instead.
If we are not trying to be perfect, we can just get started and not worry about being amazing.

We can go out and have some fun with our photography. We won’t worry if our shots are great – we’ll just practice, shoot, and have a good time.
The new mantra here is accepting imperfection. Celebrate it even. We are all on a journey, are all developing, and will never arrive at total perfection. It doesn’t exist.
So unhook yourself from the idea of perfection and do what every major artist, entrepreneur and anyone who creates anything for a living says: just go create.

3. Lower your expectations

Think about nurturing your photography as it needs to be nurtured. Think about your creativity as a journey, one in which you will keep persevering, weaving it into your life for as long as it engages you.
And if you’re like me, that’s probably your whole life.
We take so many photos now with digital that I think our expectations of the number of fantastic photos we should be getting is way higher than if we were shooting film.
When Ansel Adams said, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop” he was talking obviously in the time of film when we were so much more careful with our shots. Making sure that we didn’t waste them unnecessarily.

The idea of expecting a small number of excellent shots is both realistic and freeing.
I spend a lot of time editing down hundreds, and sometimes thousands of photos after a shoot. To make sure that I get the few that are my very, very best.
When you lower your expectations about how many shots you should be getting, it means you can experiment and do things you might not normally do because the end result is unknown.
You can chase that strange light and see what your camera does with it. You can try lots of different subjects and shoot people/things/places that totally fascinate you – without thinking just about results.

It means you can practice perfecting your technique. Remember, when you are improving your technique – starting to shoot on manual for example – it is vitally important to constantly practice.
Practice takes time. Practice is about making mistakes and missing shots. But the more you do it, the better your understanding of your camera will get.

4. Use the power of silence

We all know the spiel that technology is ruining our lives, right? Well, I don’t totally agree. Technology has brought incredible things to my life. It has allowed my wife and me to become digital nomads. It has made photography truly accessible – no longer do you need a $3000 camera to get you started in photography.

Like everything fun and absorbing. However, moderation is key. When we check our emails 134 times per day (a statistic I read recently) instead of enjoying a beautiful sunrise, a great concert or a beautiful moment with our child, we rush to capture it instead of being in the moment. In that case, technology has become out of hand in our lives.
The downside to so much tech activity is you start to get lost in the constant stimulation of the world. You are so busy thinking and responding to that world that you leave your brain no space to…create anything new.
You will continue with the same habits, the same thoughts, and routines unless you consciously create space in your life.

Focusing on bringing more silence into your life is a beautiful way to allow new ideas in. It also helps to ‘clear the clutter’ of excessive thoughts in your mind. It cleanses your thinking a little, so you can turn your attention away from doing to creating.
What I like to ask my students sometimes is when they last listened to, and were totally absorbed, by silence.
And when I say absorbed, I mean totally aware and present for the silence. They weren’t thinking about what they were making for dinner, or their annoying work colleague or how much money they spent last night.
So it’s not just being surrounded by silence – it’s being actively absorbed by it. Listen to it and feel how the absence of noise affects your body.

For me, taking photographs is a total sensory experience. It’s not just about what I see, because all of my senses are heightened. Entering into silence is a way to connect more with my senses.
It’s feeling the different way that silence stimulates your senses, such as the feeling of melancholy on an empty high street on a grey winter’s day. Or the comforting nostalgia of a clear, cold autumn evening, with the smell of wood smoke wafting in the air.
Or the heady beauty of a spring morning full of the opulent perfume of flowers and the feeling of scorching, rich sunshine on your skin.
I know that it’s hard to pull your mind away from its busy thinking and doing. I get that being human means that thoughts endlessly appear in our mind, taking our attention and energy.

When this happens and you become conscious of it happening, take your attention gently back to the moment. Wrestle control from the thoughts and bring your mind back to what’s here in front of you. I like to say to myself – I’ll think about that later.
That way you can actually appreciate the life that you have in the moment, and you will develop seeing and awareness in your photography, regardless of where you are. Whether it be on your way to work, at the playground with your kids or even doing your shopping.
This awareness is a powerful catalyst for your creativity and will find you reaching for your camera more and more often because you have learned to listen to the silence and connect to the world around you.

5. Fear

Fear is certainly in the category of things that inhibit creativity in our lives. But if you can learn to work with fear, then you’ll automatically feel more inspired and confident to create and take photos.
There are two major fears I see in photographers at my workshops.
Firstly, fear of photographing their subject. This applies to street photography a lot. You very much want to take a photo of that magnetic looking stranger, or that strange event unfolding before your eyes, but you are gripped by fear.
You know you want to bring your camera up, you want to move closer to your subject but something stops you. You end up walking away without the shot and feel annoyed with yourself.

The second type of fear response I see in my students is a deep self-consciousness about shooting for too long in front of strangers.
Think about this scenario. You are walking along a busy city street on a rainy day when all of sudden a ray of golden sunshine bursts through the grey clouds, creating stunning reflections and patterns around you.
It’s mesmerizing! You want to shoot everything that this beautiful light is reflecting off. You start to shoot, but after a few minutes, you are hit by a wave of self-consciousness.
There are people everywhere. People shopping, coming home from work, tourists chatting, kids running. And here you are crouching down on the ground photographing puddles!

I’ve noticed that when this wave of self-consciousness hits, most people stop shooting and move on because it feels weird to be doing something that no one else is.
Now fear is normal in these situations. I think most photographers experience fear in certain situations. We know that our bodies produce a chemical response to new situations, which can make us want to run away.
Instead, we need to examine how to deal with this situation so that fear doesn’t overpower us. So how can I dispel my fear and get those great shots?
First, accept that like clouds, fear comes and goes. You will never live a life where fear disappears. You wouldn’t be human otherwise.

Even if you are a super-experienced photographer, there will always be times when you will be dogged by fear.
Secondly – allow it! This might seem counterintuitive, but I have found that if I try to run away from fear, or suppress or ignore it, it starts to get bigger and bigger until I am almost paralyzed by dread.
So I allow the fear. I just say – Ok, here is some fear. Welcome. OK, I don’t say welcome. I’m not that zen. But you get what I mean? I don’t fight it.
Carry on taking the photograph – and just let the fear be there. Eventually, like a cloud in the sky, it will leave. Fear always leaves! Maybe it will take a few seconds or a few minutes. Maybe longer.

Yet, the more you allow fear to be there, the quicker it seems to evaporate.
The good thing to understand is that the more you practice being in such situations as photographers, the more you will get used to these fear responses. They won’t overpower you and stop you from shooting.
If you suffer greatly from fear, then I suggest you practice getting comfortable being with your camera, so you can focus on the actual photography!

6. Stop consuming and start making

I don’t know why, but a day spent creating is a day that feels much more satisfying to me than a day spent consuming.

When I think about consuming, it’s not just buying things – it’s the endless stream of social media, checking Facebook, 24/7 news, and endless discussions about the politics of the day.
When we are just consuming, we definitely aren’t making anything.
To stop mindlessly consuming was an important realization for me to make in my life. Instead, I think to myself – what can I accomplish today?

7. Get started

With something as enjoyable and satisfying as taking photos, you should never be in a state of I should be doing my photography!
You don’t want to create a situation where photography is one of many things you should be doing – like going to the gym or eating less of your kids’ candy.
And yet, sometimes we need a push to get us out the door. We are all responsible humans beings and we are all keeping various plates spinning. And so taking time out can induce guilt.

But think about it: every single day of our lives is a day we will never experience again. And in every single day of our lives, we are given a choice of how to spend our time. We do the things we have to do but then we weave in the time to do the things we are passionate about.
If we don’t do it now, then when?
Taking time to cultivate our photography practice pays dividends across our lives too. Great by-products of a strong photo practice are that we are more present when we are in other spheres of our lives, we are more engaged and excited in life because of our inspirational photo practices.

I have to say I am a more interesting, inspired and happier person to be around when I have taken time out to do my personal photography. And in that, everyone in my life benefits!
I really hope you enjoyed those ideas about how to be more creative every day. They are ideas I feel passionate about and hope that you will too. I would love to know if these ideas have helped you, so do let me know in the comment box below.

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Three Tips to Help you Capture Beauty in the Everyday Moments

By: Meredith Clark

When it comes to creating family photo albums, there can be a tendency to create a book filled with your family’s “greatest hits”, the best moments of the year, if you will. Of course, those special moments like birthdays, vacations, and that one perfect Christmas card photo are important to include, but for most of us, they really don’t do a good job of capturing the little moments that make up the majority of our lives.

#Camera#Beauty#snapshot

The other day, I was looking through a photo album with my four-year-old daughter Lizzy. As usual she skipped right past all the formal photos of her and her sister, and went right to a candid snapshot of her crying on the floor when she was about two. She’s heard the story of why I took that photo a number of times, but she always asks to hear it again, and so I told her;

“You were crying because I made us blackberry cobbler with whipped cream for breakfast one morning, can you believe that? I thought it would be a special treat, but you just wanted cereal like you had every day, and you were so mad at me that I’d made you something else!”

We both sat on the couch long after that laughing, talking, and telling stories about what Lizzy was like when she was two. To her, those are the important pictures – not the sunset sessions, not the formal portraits of her and her sister, not the perfectly composed family photos (which carefully observe the rule of thirds). To her, the little day-to-day moments really are the big things in life. They are the things that she remembers, and the more I think about it, the more I have realized that they really do belong in our family photo albums, perhaps more than anything else.
So, without further ado, here are my top three tips to help you capture the moments of beauty in the everyday:

1. Tell a Story

Look through the camera with the goal of capturing what’s happening in your life right at this moment. Maybe it’s the way your girls are sitting together, heads touching, reading a book. Maybe it’s the collection of coffee mugs on your table that speak to late nights at work. Maybe it’s the dirty feet of your kiddos hanging off the swings that speak to summers spent playing in the backyard.

Maybe it’s the collection of bottles drying on the counter that you really wish would hurry up and dry so that you could put them away and not look at them again until tomorrow. I’ve been there. Trust me when I tell you to take a picture of them before you put them away today. Because in a few years, when your kids are older and bottles are the last thing on your mind, you’ll look back on that photo and instantly be transported back to what life was really like with a young baby, counter full of bottles and all.

2. Look For Beauty Everywhere

It can be easy to overlook people, places, and things that you see every day, but there’s still beauty there if you take some time to look for it. Last fall, I was commissioned by a client to take some photos of the town that we live in. At first, I had a very difficult time thinking of any place that I’d want to photograph, because everything just felt ordinary to me. I wanted to do something unique and special, and had a difficult time thinking of how to make that happen. It took a few weeks of walking around town while holding my camera, shooting nothing, and sighing heavily before I started to be able to look at things with fresh eyes. I began to see color texture, and character, even in the old wooden house that I drive by all the time. It may be a normal and everyday thing for me, but that doesn’t mean there’s no beauty in it.

Is your dinner preparation particularly colorful? That can be beautiful. Are your kids holding hands on the couch one morning? That can be beautiful too. Is that homemade vanilla ice cream slowly dripping down a waffle cone? There’s beauty there. Those weeds outside that really need to be mowed, but in the meantime have grown into tall, prickly, textured creatures? I think they can be pretty beautiful as well.

3. Sit Back and Watch

One of the best ways to make sure that your family photos truly capture your family’s personality is to make sure that you include many candid photos. But of course, capturing true candid shots can be easier said than done, especially with children around! My best tip is to spend a lot of time sitting, watching, and holding your camera. It may not happen the first time you bring out your camera (or even the second!), but as your family realizes that you’re not going to be saying “Look right here and say cheese!” over and over, they’ll start to relax and do their own thing, and that’s when the real magic happens. Quietly pick up your camera and start shooting. You’ll start to see their real smiles and expressions, and when it comes to photos of your family and friends, those genuine smiles are always the best ones!


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