I started a personal photography project in January of last year. I decided that, rather than do another project 365 or 10 on 10 project, I would take some kind of family portrait every month.
It seemed so easy. Just one photo a month of all 4 of us. But I think I managed 3 months before life got in the way, and I just sort of stopped. I stopped making the effort. I stopped taking the time to get the tripod set up and all 4 of us together and in the mood to take photos. I just stopped.
And it makes me so, so sad.
I am huge believer in the importance of existing in photos. Not just for ourselves, but for our children and our children's children. I believe in it so much I've written an ebook made up of tips for getting in front of the camera with our loved ones!
But having tried, and failed, to get in a photo with my family just once a month I really understand how hard it can be. This is something I really hope to address, both personally and here on my blog and in my newsletter.
I want to work out WHY it was so hard to take that damn photo every month, and come up with strategies and solutions to ensure that I take the time to do it on a regular basis, and I want to share that information with you so that you can exist in more photos too.
And so I start afresh.
This year I will, once again, plan to take a family portrait every month. I'm thinking of adding some fun variations some months, like a headshot of each one of us, or a photo of our favourite drink that month, but these will be in addition to the portrait of all 4 of us together.
Each month I'll post our family portrait with some kind of update on who's been doing what that month, which I think will be really great for us to look back on at the end of the year, and also might help you get to know me a little better!
To help keep me on track I'm going to be linking up my family portrait post each month to the 'me and mine' linky, where loads of amazing bloggers link up their own family portraits every month. I think that might be my first tip for making the effort to get in front of the camera more - hold yourself accountable somehow!
So, here we go. Here is my family portrait for January 2016!
Poorliness aside, this is what January was all about:
- Rhys starting swimming lessons, which he is rather excited about and really enjoying.
- Nerys moving from her cot bed to a proper, big-girl single bed, which she is VERY excited about. There were loud shouts of "my bed" when she first saw it.
- Speaking of shouts, Nerys has come on immensely with her speech. Her vocabulary is expanding by the day and I am loving having little conversations with her, and laughing at some of the things she comes out with. One of her expressions is "all day, all week", which we think she might have heard on Peppa Pig and it's fast becoming some kind of family catchphrase.
- I've been really enjoying starting to find my feet with instagram. I've had an account for a few years now, but have only in the last few weeks started to feel more at home and post more and I have to say I'm loving it at the moment!
So that's January. Done!
Here's hoping that February brings far fewer bugs and many more trips to the park and the beach and much more time with family and friends!
If you'd like to keep up with my findings and tips on finding the time and motivation to get in front of the camera more then head here and sign up for my newsletter to make sure you don't miss anything! I'll be taking some time to go back and read my own ebook all about making sure you exist in photos for your children and taking some of my own advice this year. You can get a copy for yourself here!