I recently stumbled across the blog Kids Were Here and I’m hooked. Not only do I love the pictorial proof of the children’s presence, but I also love the message that those messes tell a story.
I’m always thrilled when I capture my kids in the right light and with at least a semi-happy face. Those are the pictures that hang on the walls of our home, the ones I framed for my office. Those pictures tell a story too.
But pictures of the messes, whether you call it documenting the everyday or capturing the ordinary, well, they’re proof of life. Ever since I found this blog, I’ve tried to make a more conscientious effort to capture these little moments of our day, the tableaux of our lives, if you will. These pictures probably won’t make it to the walls, (we need only look at the floor to find them), but these are the pictures I will put in my children’s photo books. This is the way I hope they remember their childhoods. I know I won’t forget.
In the very first pictures I saw of Ying, my eye focused on her missing limbs. Yes, first I saw that dark hair and those piercing, cut to my soul eyes, but then my eye settled on what wasn’t there.
Photography has helped teach me to see what is there. I don’t need the click of the shutter to tell me my kids are beautiful, but I know that the camera trains my eye to look for that beauty. It teaches me to look at things from a new angle, a fresh perspective. If I want interesting pictures I know I need to isolate the little details from the big picture.
Want to see life, really see it? Take pictures.
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Are you looking for a good photography class? I took 2 of Lisa’s classes from The Long Road to China right after we came home with Ying. Those classes really helped me see our “new” life to the most beautiful light.
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