Photographing Everyday Moments With Your Children

Recently, we launched a contest over at Ottawa Valley Moms for a $50 gift certificate to any of our public courses.  We are so pleased to see so many moms and grandmas entering the contest and saying hello on our facebook page!  We love MOMS!!  And it is no secret that Gemma and I both love to photograph our children and adventures as "mom".  So today, I have put together a few tips and tricks to share with all you shutter-happy mommies out there!

1.  Let go of the notion that the only perfect picture of your child is the one where they are staring straight into the camera with a big smile.  While these are beautiful, if they are the only images we capture,  we miss all the other quieter or normal moments.  (Did I say quiet?  I meant LOUD!  And yes, photograph the louder moments too.)

2.  Take your camera out on a regular day, not just special days like Kindergarten graduation and hockey championships.  I want to remember how I really spent time with my children.

3.  Get down at a child's level to photograph them.  Although shooting from above can result in a neat image, when you crouch or lie down, you start to see the world as a little one sees it, and trust me, it makes for beautiful images!

4.  Take pictures of your children doing things they love to do.  Their happiness will show through in the images (and they will love to look at them too).

5.  Get in there and get close-ups of the details.  A picture of the details on their favourite toy or dress, the way they hold their hands at their sides, or a page of a favourite book they are reading, are sure to become  treasured memories for both you and them.

I'm sharing some images from one of the last really warm days of Fall.  Together, they capture the spirit of a 15-minute morning bike ride and explore.

Rhonda

Stop! Or these mamas will shoot!!

( C'mon, you knew it was only a matter of time before we used that line!)  But I couldn't resist. Check it out:

  

These four wonderful ladies are armed and dangerous after taking our Magic of Manual Mode course on Sunday afternoon.  That's right - these fancy cameras are being used as we speak to their fullest capabilities (and that makes Rhonda and I ecstatic!!).  They can freeze a running child's expression with ease.  They understand how to blur backgrounds with the simple turn of a dial and were rocking it all out during our practice time!! 

We have already seen a few examples of the improvements they've made in their photographs since we taught the course and are so proud!  

You're going down, Auto Mode! 

~Gemma

Magic is in the crisp air!

And so is fall.  The colours all across the Valley are so vibrant and inspiring!

If you would love to create some of your own autumn artwork and own a dSLR, we have just the course for you! 

Our most advanced class, The Magic of Manual Mode, is running on Sunday, October 14, beginning at 12:30.  This is is going to be another information-packed afternoon of learning, hands-on instruction and a complete booklet of reference notes to take home. 

If you're tired of producing images that are only worthy of the delete button, then we want to encourage you to use your fancy camera to its fullest potential by learning how to use M on your dial to create your masterpiece.   You will spend five hours with two professional photographers who present it all with visual illustrations in and easy-to-understand manner.  We walk you through the exposure triangle, metering, metering modes, white balance and even talk about photographing in various lighting situations plus share basic editing techniques!

We have a couple of seats left in the October class and won't be offering Magic again in a public format until 2013.  If you are interested, please send us a note by e-mail or message us on our Facebook page. 

The photo magicians are standing by...

Gemma