As a photographer you devote so much of your time creating beautiful imagery for the families you serve; however, unfortunately,  most of us spend very little time capturing our own milestones and meaningful moments with the same amount of skill and authority that we offer our clients! Here are a few tips to help you feel confident about documenting your own special days!

#1: iPhone

I prefer to use my phone to document our trips as I don't want the hassle of bringing along my camera. iPhone cameras have gotten pretty darn good and keep me traveling light and not having to lug my camera everywhere. However, if you do you prefer to bring your pro camera I've got you covered. This shop is my favorite for camera bags, and they have great smaller options for travel!

#2: Strategy

If you read this post you'll remember that we want to make the most out of a single moment when photographing clients.That doesn't change when photographing our families! I make sure to grab a couple of great action shots and a photo with everyone looking. Then I grab a detail image - for example: a tiny handfull of sea shells. Next we make sure to grab a wide shot to show the scenery. After that, the camera goes away and we make sure to be present in the moment!

Tip: If you have to pick a side, I recommend to err on the side of not having as many photos as we would rather be present in these sweet moments. We don't want our children to remember their mom with an iPhone or camera permanently attached to her hand!

#3 Editing

I edit all iPhone photos on the computer rather than the phone as this is much faster when working with a lot of photos. I apply my preset to everything, then export - quick and easy. I create annual memory books with all our photos from the year, and, in addition to that, I also create smaller vacation albums for special trips.

Bonus:

+ Another fun way to document your vacation is with video. I make sure to record my clips on my phone horizontally and then build a quick vacation film! My family always loves looking back on these! I build my films in Final Cut Pro (with the same approach I teach in my Creating Session Videos course for pro/client videos).

+ I also like to spend 20 minutes at some point on our vacations to take some professional family self portraits in a beautiful landscape - these are the photos I like to hang on our walls. This way I can fulfill my creative/photography heart with some beautiful photos for the walls, BUT I'm not carrying my pro camera everywhere we go on vacation. It stays in our room aside from when we take our family self portraits. (This can be a lot easier than you think - using all the tips and tricks I teach in the Family Self Portrait course.)

Remember, photos are to help you remember the experience, they are not the experience themselves. We hope this helps you more easily document some of your own moments while encouraging you to be present and enjoy them as well!