Child Photography

We all have those photos of our childhood that we hide (naked in the bath tub, bad hair do's, horrible outfits, etc).  But truth be told, we're glad we have those photos!

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Photographing your children is very important and can be a fun tradition in your family.  It is easy however, to take a million pictures with your first child, a thousand with your next child, until your last child only has a few pictures.  It's easy to do with so many responsibilities, but perhaps a little advanced planning will help you capture the important moments and major developmental stages.

Below are some suggestions to help you plan ahead.  Many times after one or two children, you've finally gotten in a routine but by then you've already missed those stages with your other children.  So take a few minutes and make a plan to help you document those precious moments of your child's life!

First, think of the major developmental changes in your child.  Important pictures might include sitting, crawling, walking, first tooth, and first hair cut.  There are many suggestions and ideas for taking pictures of your children.  One idea is to take a picture once a month for the first year of the baby's life.  This can be done at home, but is a fun way to see your child change over the course of the year.  Another easy way would be to follow a calendar time frame.  Some of the major development areas could include:

• Newborn
• 3 months
• 6 months
• 9 months
• 1 year
• 18 months

Next, think of possible outfits you might want to use.  It could be a fun tradition if all your girls wore the same dress at 3 months and all your boys wore the same outfit as well.

 Besides the more formal pictures at specific stages, it's also fun to catch the candid moments.  A good habit to start, is to always have your camera in your diaper bag or in an easy to reach location.  Candid moments are the times you are able to capture your child's true personality, the trademark faces, and the silly things they do at that time.

Last of all, make sure you have a system to organize your photos.  In the digital age we live in, most people use digital cameras and organizing photos can be quite easy.  Simply make a folder for each child and list specific months or years in their folder.  Get in the routine of weekly or monthly downloading the pictures from your camera to your computer and labeling the events.  As a busy mom, it may be difficult to stay on top of scrapbooks, but look at other ways such as online scrapbooks, photo books you can create online, or personal family blogs.  Such programs allow you to store your pictures, but print them whenever you want. 

Above all, remember that documenting your child's life is important.  Don't stress!  Find a system that works for you and your family.  You will be grateful to have pictures to reminisce through and fun stories to tell your children and grandchildren as you look through photo albums.  And don't worry, your children will be grateful as well!

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