christenBphotography blog

Moving away from a career in the non-profit sector to be at home with my son has been a HUGE transition. I never pictured myself at home — so it has taken almost the first full year of his life to create a picture of our family life that I am content with. In some ways, the decision was made for me as we moved from LA back to Michigan when I was 7 months pregnant. I had Maternity Leave written on my forehead so I didn’t even consider applying for any positions. I knew we needed some time to settle as a family as my husband built his private practice in West Michigan from the ground up. Because I had already been doing professional photography for 4 years when we moved back to Michigan, I knew that it made sense to finally enjoy the flexibility of working as a photographer AND staying at home with my son. Many ‘mom-photographers’ go the opposite direction, they are at home with their kids and begin pursuing photography. Either way it goes, the combination can be really great — and yet, really challenging… but I’ll save that for another post.

When people ask me what my favorite kind of portrait photography is, I tell them: Children, Couples, and Street Photography. I LOVE KIDS. Before Sam, I would spend countless hours with my neighbor’s kids, friend’s kids, and the lady’s kid who was in line at the supermarket in front of me. Yep, I’m THAT person.

I love children because they are so honest. If they are upset, you know it. If they are excited, you see it. If they are frustrated, you can hear it.

I’m going to begin sharing a bit more of my life as a mom on here – so when you see Sam on the subject of my posts and you are here just to see my client work, feel free to skip over it. If you want to see and learn more about my everyday life and gain insight into capturing your own child’s pictures – grab a cup of coffee and stay a while. You can subscribe to my posts on the above menu bar to be notified when I make another post. Feel free to email me with questions about capturing your kids and I’ll do my best to answer them with some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I am NOT an expert – but I have received quite a few emails from interested friends and strangers wanting to grow in their ability to capture their everyday life better!

I hope I can help you begin to capture your child’s personality and everyday life with more confidence, creativity, and excitement.

Photo Tip #1 : Interact WITH your child.

Once you adjust the settings on your camera and find a great spot to capture a few shots, have fun with your child. Talk to them, take away their toy and give it back to them, make funny noises, etc. Simply be the parent, grandparent or friend you are to them ALL the time. The difference is… have your camera ready. The below images are everyday facial expressions of my son that I want to remember in another 5o years!!

If you try out this photo tip, I’d love to see what you come up with – so feel free to email me at info at christenBphotography dot com!