Here’s my holiday wish. When you are gathering with the people you love over the holidays, please, please take pictures, especially of those older family members. When the menorah is put away, the tree is on the curb, the food eaten, presents opened, what you’ll be left with is (hopefully) warm memories. Years from now, those memories will be a lot less fuzzy if you have some pictures to remind you of them.
My Random Tips for Holiday Pictures:
1. Let’s be candid.
No need to annoy everyone by making them stop to look at the camera and yell “Cheese!” You’ll be transported back to the moment better later if the subjects were “in the moment” when you took the picture.
2. Yes, you too.
Make sure you are actually in some of the pictures. I recently noticed that of all the images of our family decorating the tree over the years, I wasn’t in one of them! It’s like I wasn’t there. It was time to hand over the camera for a change. I don’t want my kids and grandkids to be sitting together looking at these pictures later and wondering “Where was grandma?”
3. Perfect is the enemy of the good.
You don’t need perfect hair or even a clean house. Come as you are. If you wait for the perfect moment, you’ll likely miss the opportunity altogether.
This is the last portrait I made of my great aunt Louise. We were at a family gathering and I had just given her a print of herself as a young woman. I remember thinking “I wish I had asked her to move into a nicer chair.” Now that she’s gone, I have a clear memory of her happily sitting in that little lawn chair lakeside. It doesn’t matter that it’s not perfect. I’m just so grateful to have this.
4. Get ready!
What do you have to do right now to be ready? New batteries? Empty that full card in your camera? Learn how to use that new cel phone camera app? If you do that now, it’ll be easy to grab the camera when the time comes.
I hope this is a helpful reminder. I wish you a peaceful and fun holiday season!