Me and my girls
This photo might be my favorite of me and the girls. You may have seen it on Apartment Therapy’s OhDeeDoh yesterday (oh hi, new readers) and you may see it again in another yet to be published interview. We took them last Fall specifically for these features because, well, there just aren’t that many of me and the girls. Sometimes it takes 50 shots before you get one that captures that special something and I think this one nailed it (you can see a few outtakes below). Mia’s expression is so perfect – it’s so her, and I love Claudine’s dreamy face looking out the window.
So with me usually behind the camera, it’s up to Mark to take these rare photos of us. It’s not that he can’t take a good photo, but sometimes I’ll hand over the camera, we’ll take some pictures, I’ll go through the shots and…they’re all blurry. Or blown out. “How are they all so blurry?”, I say, “It’s autofocus!”. So there’s usually a lot of post production Photoshop work when Mark takes a picture, but whatever. Sometimes it not about perfect lighting or the perfect exposure or the sharpness of a photo. The most compelling photos are ones that make you feel something and when I look at that photo I just want to go give bear hugs to those girls. And maybe pinch those cheeks.
Speaking of photos and image quality, I’ve been agonizing and going back and forth about upgrading my camera to a better, but more expensive model for the past couple of months (and getting another lens too). I started taking better pictures when I bought this camera, my first DSLR, but now that I’ve been shooting with it for 2 years, I see the limitations and it’s been frustrating. I haven’t been able to pull the trigger though. I’m not a pro photographer and it’s hard to justify spending that much money on a camera (but write offs! I need tax write offs for 2011!! But OMG, it’s soooo expensive) We’ll see. Mark is the enabler of the family, however, and he’ll tell me to buy just about anything even though he doesn’t spend any money himself (seriously, dude does not buy anything at all). I’m sort of split on the money spending. I can horde money and be afraid to spend it (because see? Our health insurance premiums!), but I can definitely spend (damn you, those stupid JCrew 30% off sale emails that land in my inbox).
But I have to say, I do like Mark’s philosophy: “Sometimes people should buy the things they want, not just the things they need”.
um. ok.
