The phone is ringing, the emails are coming in, bills need to be done, dinner is still up in the air, lunches for tomorrow haven’t been made, the cat is hiding under the Christmas tree AGAIN and my 2 year old is trying to fix it, just as I find an empty bag of raisins in the living room he announces his THIRD poopy diaper of the day; it’s a wonder that motherhood isn’t a complete blur.

How do we keep it from being a blur?

Photography has been one of my resolves.

Photography forces me to notice the small things and to do this, I’ve got to slow the blur down once in a while. Small hands and small feet are what I tend to notice when I slow down.

As a writer, you strive to find details that will show (rather than tell) the reader about a character. If these details are expressed well, they create a three dimensional character in our imagination. As a photographer, capturing the details is at the core of every shot for my brides, my families, and my children. If Brian and I have done our job well, the details shots I caputre will show the story of who they are as individuals.

I know some day the obvious will happen. I will miss the noise of little feet running around upstairs instead of fretting about the mess they’re making. I will long for the laughter as they gurgled their juice. And I will try to remember what it felt like when Blaze reached up and tugged and tugged and tugged on my shirt to get my attention. All these things involve their small hands and small feet. And for me this is all the reason I need to try and capture them before they grow.

Do you remember how your little one used to hold and play with your hands while they nursed? I couldn’t resist taking these shots during a short nursing break for a family shoot we were doing.

Below is one of my favorite “hand shots” during a pregnancy shoot we did. The “soon to be” big sister wasn’t sure what she thought of this new baby, and you can almost feel her uncertainty in the image.

Little side note on this photo: I felt this uncertainty from little Eva before we started the photo shoot. I knew I was going to do a hands shot with her momma’s tummy and the parents’ hands, but as I felt her uncertainty I also knew I wanted to blur Eva out in the background to give her a voice. I could tell she felt like she was in the background of all the excitement surrounding the new baby’s arrival, and I wanted her to someday look back on this photo and feel validated. I wanted her to know I saw her and all her uncertainty, and even though it was scary as a 5 year old it was also beautiful and real. Does that make sense?

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Exercise for “Small Hands, Small Feet”

1. Take five minutes with a pen and paper and sit down in your kid’s room. Look around at their clothes, shoes, toys, dolls, beds, and make a short list of the details that symbolize who they are at this present age. From that list, work on taking shots of those specific things; maybe it’s their little shoes, hands and feet, mittens, hats, dolls, a princess dress hanging on the back of a bedroom door, a superman cape, etc. (If you’re like me, you often don’t feel like you have five minutes. So I set a timer for myself so I know I’ll only take five minutes and then I’ll get back to my “to do list”.)

2. Try lowering your F-stop to it’s lowest setting (2.8 or lower if your lense is able). The lower F-stop is what creates the blurred background and sharp focus on the single subject.

3. If you have a baby, while you’re nursing or your husband is bottle feeding, take some shots of what their hands are doing. This works great for 6 months olds. I’ve noticed this age is particularly active with their hands while nursing. (little trick; wait 30 minutes longer to feed so they’re extra hungry and more interested in eating than looking at your camera clicking ).

4. If you have older children, take some photos of their shoes, their bare feet up in the air, or their bare feet poking out from underneath a skirt or rolled up overalls.

5. If you’re pregnant, have a friend, husband, or professional take some photos of your little ones hands on your bare tummy. Classic shot that is so special in years to come.

6. Remember, the trick is to lower your F-stop and use natural light for soft lighting. Happy shooting!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!

To see our day job, visit our website.