Who Photographs The Photographer?
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 8:00AM
Everyone got their own cannon...except the photographer. Vicksburg, Summer 2010.
Ever since we bought our first digital camera, somehow the job of “family picture-taker” became mine and mine alone. When it comes to taking photos of our kids...birthdays, school events and especially Christmas, it’s me doing all of the photography work.
Now my kids are getting older (ages 14 and 12) and I’ve come to realize that there’s one thing missing in 99% of our family photos and videos...ME! Obviously, someone has to play photographer, and since it was my hobby and now profession, I’m the one who picks up the camera. Still, our photographic memories rarely include me, and now that the kids are almost grown, I’m really starting to be bothered by that fact.
So, why doesn’t anyone else in my house pick up a camera?
My wife has always been intimidated by digital cameras and digital photography in general. She never touches a camera and when she does can rarely take a good picture. Nothing personal honey, that’s just how it is.
We bought our daughter a camera 2 or 3 years ago. The first thing she did was make portraits of her stuffed animals, then portraits of other portraits hanging on the wall, then she put the camera away and never took it out again.
I have the most hope for my son, who’s been learning how to do video work. The other day, when it was my turn to open Christmas presents, he took control of the video camera I was using. Now for the first time there’s video of me on Christmas morning opening a gift.
Still, someone else needs to take pictures besides me. I don’t expect anyone else to learn how to work my DSLR, but we have two other point & shoot cameras in our house that don’t get touched.
I’m curious to hear how other families handle camera duty in their household. Leave a comment!
Reader Comments (4)
I love being behind the camera but I also delegate others to point and shoot so that there are memories to be shared at a later date. Sometimes people don't offer to take a family portrait so I have no problem asking others to take them for me. Usually it is with my phone camera.
Dennis, I know exactly how you feel. It seems that if I ever want to get into a photo, I have to ask someone to take it, or do a self-portrait. I guess it's the curse of the photographer to never be photographed him/herself :)
Tammy always used to give me the camera because her hands shake too much. I balked and complained enough about taking pictures that she's given up asking me. So now we just don't take pictures.
Hey Tom, most non-DSLR cameras have some sort of image stabilization these days. If you're getting blurry images and shooting in AUTO, try brightening up the room and make sure the flash is on. It could be that the shutter speed is slowing down trying to compensate for low light. But don't give it up completely! Years from now your daughters will enjoy looking at their old family photos.
Stacie, you're exactly right! I guess I'm just starting to worry that years from now no one will realize I was part of the story.