Photographs are windows to our memory. Reflections of our life. Reminders of our blessings. Each Wednesday we feature 5 personal favorite photos from a Creative Team member or a friend. These 5 photos will remind of us why photography is so beautiful and why documenting the everyday is so important. The goal is to leave us all a little more inspired to cultivate a good life and record it.

Our inspiration this week comes from Creative Team member MaryAnn Perry. Here are some of her favorite tips – in her own words.

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Don’t stay in one spot when you take your pictures. Move around and get creative! Challenge yourself to take photos from different angles. By changing the angle in which you take the photo you can change the emotion and feel of the photograph.

When I took this photo I was actually sitting on the floor with my camera tilted upward to get the shot. I wanted to catch the girls looking at their daddy in awe as he told them about his job as a firefighter. The angle of the photo highlighted the emotion on the girl’s faces and emphasized the size contrast between my husband and girls.

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This was a totally random photo I took. I love handwritten notes and letters. I love to write and receive them. I get excited EVERY DAY to go to the mailbox. I know you can email and I know you can email pictures, but there is just something so much more fun about getting them in the mail. I think it is important to include photos of things we do within our everyday lives. We can make it different or more interesting by changing the angle in which we take the photo. In this photo I used a wide-angle lens and got in close to take the picture.

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Include pictures of your loved ones’ favorite hobbies. My husband plays the guitar and we love to hear him play. He is good for the short time that he has been playing and the girls and I recently surprised him with a new guitar. I wanted a photo of him playing… not something posed. For this photo I was on my knees, and had the lens focused on his front hand playing, so when I took the photo the rest of his body blurred slightly.

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This photo is from a pit stop during a recent road trip. The photo was taken at an angle just above my chest… is that technical…. hmmm well I was on my tippy toes…. to get the shot… my husband is really tall. But my point with this photo… is it’s an everyday shot but it tells a lot about my husband and me… It’s our favorite splurge snacks… only the ones reserved for a vacation splurge… that’s important and needs to be documented!

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Get down on their level. This photo was taken of my daughter early in the morning while she was playing with her train set. I was sitting on the ground on the same level that she was playing. This angle allowed me to let her play and still get the picture I wanted…. her playing trains. no cheesy posed shots… a simple reflection of our morning together…

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You can learn more about MaryAnn here + check out more of her everyday photos and Project Life pages on her blog.

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