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As I look through the various picture albums and polaroid of my childhood one thing stood out, where were the pictures of my mother? My mother was often on the other side of the camera trying to capture the fleeting moments she had with her kids. Now as an adult, I look back at the pictures trying to figure out who she was and what she was like beyond just being my mother.
The harsh reality for most mothers
I often hear mom friends talk about a loss of identity. Their world shifts to a new being that they have to protect and care for. In their child's life, they will take thousands of pictures of their children. But the question still remains, where is mom? Often we are found shooing the offers to capture us in photos because of our own insecurities or hang ups of not having the perfect hair or right clothes or any number of thing.
Beyond the lack of pictures, mothers now have another issue in documenting their lives. How many prints do you have of yourself with or without your child? When the images on your hard drive are long gone, the one lasting thing we have are prints. Often we take a ton of pictures sitting in our Google Photo or iPhone camera, but we never make prints of the images. What will our kids have to show their kids when the iPhones are dead and now "latest" image storage software is the thing of the past.
Committed to capturing moms
At Safia Joy Photography, we highlight the family bond, but we especially highlight the bond between a mother and her kids. A part of the session is getting the kid(s) with each parent to capture the beautiful and varying connections they have. We also encourage families to get prints. While digital files are great for social media and forwarding to family and friends, it is important to have a record for your family to keep. While you don't have to fill your walls with a ton of pictures, you can always gather them in a photo album. As part of the membership program with Safia Joy Photography, you can get an annual photo album to note another year of your amazing family.
A Personal Commitment
As a mother and the family photographer, I do not get enough photos of me with my family. This year, I am committed to getting more pictures of myself with the ones that I love. More importantly, I am dedicated to taking the hundreds of pictures I have gathered on my hard drive of my family and creating an album. I challenge you all to think about how you document your ever changing circle of friends and family. How are you documenting your life?