Blaze wanted to get his dad a pair of Vans for Christmas, so they could be twins since he had his own little pair. The funniest part is that on Christmas morning when Brian opened up his new box of Vans, Blaze thought he had stolen his! He didn’t even think about the size difference, he just knew those were his shoes.

Objects of detail help us remember how small our kids are and what they love at this particular time in their life. I’m always trying to shoot photos of their favorite objects because I know these items will change over the years to come.

Here’s a couple shots I took of the Vans.

Recipe: I had great natural light from the French doors, so I set my ISO at 400, I dialed my aperture down to a 2.8, and my shutter speed varied from 1/60 to 1/100 of a second.

I decided to try shooting from above the shoes. But it still wasn’t quite the look and feel I wanted.

So I laid down on my tummy, and I finally felt like this shot was the look I was picturing in my mind.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in taking the best photo of our kids that we forget to take photos of the things they love.

What details do your kids love? A Superman cape? A favorite pet, a blanket, a doll? How about taking a photo of their favorite item without them in the picture.

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Exercise for “Vans Tell the Story Too”!

1. The exercise may seem obvious, but here are a few things to mix it up and challenge you a bit more.

2. Pick one or two favorite items your kids can’t live without. They can be any thing from shoes, to toys, to blankets, to even a favorite snack they insist on eating every day (Blaze’s would be turkey ham! ).

3. Without thinking about your composition of the shot, just take a photo of the object. After you’ve taken the photo, look at it and think about what you like and don’t like. Then answer the question, “How could I change the angle or perspective I’m shooting from to make this photo more interesting?”

4. Try the shot again, and then ask yourself the same question until you’ve done three or four different shots of the same object from different angles.

5. When you have three of four different shots, pick the photo that best shows how small (or big) your kids are. And then spend a moment reflecting on why the shot you’ve chosen does the best job at telling the story of their age.

6. Try the recipe for the camera settings I’ve got above. The technical focus with this exercise is to go as low as you can in your aperture so that you have a nice blur in your background. If you can go to a 2.8 or lower, go for it! It will help your favorite object stand out that much more.

5. Send me some results! More and more of you are sending me your images, and it’s so great to see! mera@merakoh.com

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