Authentic Memories.

This last week we have visited a lot of tourist places and taken many pictures. I love capturing the moment. I try not to pose the kids, just snap quickly. Sometimes it doesn't work out to hot since I am making myself shoot only in manual.

I also noticed other families taking photographs. One mom determined to make all the children sit still and smile. She was getting stressed and so were the kids. This is not an uncommon sight.

You hear it - at the zoo, at the park, at play dates - SMILE!!! SAY CHEESE!!! SIT DOWN, SMILE! LOOK AT THE CAMERA. Families getting more irate as they try to get a picture.

Why are they taking the picture? Why do people take pictures of their family and friends smiling somewhere together?

Because they want to remember the fun they had.

Then I started thinking, are we really having fun? Are we really enjoying our family? Or are we just taking a picture with fake smiles to share on facebook or frame on the wall? Perhaps we are trying to prove to the world 'we had fun! we are awesome and cool!'

I asked myself: When we are together as a family, I am I making to much effort to get a good picture and forgetting to actually enjoy the people I am with?

Is my determination to get a picture actually sabotaging the fun we could be having instead?

This week, I can answer that I think my picture taking was healthy, but in the past in might not have been. Anyway, I left the camera at home for a few days, just in case.

Lets try and make all our photos of authentic, happy moments. Not just posed pictures that were so hard to get and left us exasperated.

When you look back at your photo albums, you'll remember that special moment, the sights, the smells, the laughter, the conversation...

Here are some shots I took, that made my heart filled with joy, because of the joy and beauty of the people in them that was so clear at that moment. They aren't the best photos, but they are authentic memories.