Photographs are windows to our memory. Reflections of our life. Reminders of our blessings. Each Wednesday we are featuring 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 weeks comes from Creative Team member Lindsay Teague Moreno. In her own words:

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Photography is important to me… so important to me.

As a mom, the responsibility to document my girls as they grow up falls on my shoulders. You might be lucky enough to be married to a dude that does the photo-taking, but my husband is not into the inner-workings of a DSLR despite my unsolicited lessons (hmmph). Truthfully, though, photography was important to me before I had kids and will continue to be after they are grown and living on their own. It’s something that I’m passionate about and it has served me well.

My photos and my reason for taking them has changed in the last few years; they serve a new and important purpose. That purpose is to be able to embarrass my children when they’re older… No, the purpose is to give my 3 daughters a glimpse into the things that they might not remember and to remind them of the things they never want to forget. And the same goes for my husband and myself. These photos are sweet, sweet glimpses into a time in our life that is full-to-the-brim of challenges, obligations, and responsibilities. Everyday photos make us stand back and enjoy the process of life (even when we weren’t 100% present in the moment). I don’t know about you, but I can’t look at a picture from a couple of years ago when I had 2 toddlers and a newborn without cracking a smile and thinking, “how did we make it?” Everyday photos are proof that we did (and also proof that I still don’t make my bed after 32 years).

I know in a few more years, the photos I’m taking today will make me cry. I’ll miss the sticky hands and the 1,485,036 loads of laundry. I’ll tell myself that I’d take all the chaos just to hear their tiny voices call me “mama.”  As you probably know, the days are long and the years go by in the blink of an eye. The time is now to take pictures of life…of everything. The time is now. The great thing about it is the more you practice, the better your photos will get. By the time my kids are grown, I better be the next Annie Leibovits!

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I love this photo. I can’t see their faces but I know they’re concentrating hard on something and they’re learning. My advice is not to get caught up in getting the prefect smile for every photo, but instead get down on their level and shoot them being themselves. I’m now a professional photographer and it’s shameful how few photos I have of my girls all smiling together. What I have, instead, are photos like this one that show my girls doing their “twin thing.” They’re sitting in the exact same position, looking amazingly similar, and probably saying the same thing at the same time. I can see their daddy in the background who is keeping track of the toddler. The sun tells me it’s summer. Their dresses tell me they’re in their princess stage. They probably started fighting within seconds of this photo, but I can’t remember that part of this day. Isn’t that amazing? I’m going to miss this when they are fighting over a boyfriend one day.

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You gotta love the kind of wonder that bubbles inspire in a toddler. This kind of wonder only happens for so long. Make sure you catch it with your camera.

You don’t have to have a big camera with tons of buttons and settings to take great photos. Point and shoot cameras can do some amazing things these days and don’t even get me started on how great camera phones are now. However, it sure does help to have an SLR (single lens reflex) and understand how to use it. Just being honest. The good news is that you can get a digital SLR camera for a decent price right now. The technology price has come way down over the last decade as far as cameras are concerned. Understanding shutter speed and light has helped me capture moments like this one; moments that are here and gone in seconds. In the top of the photo you can see a bubble bursting (shutter speed) and you can see how happy my daugher, Addy, is to be discovering bubbles even though she’s not necessarily the focus of the photo (aperture).  Taking some time to learn about your equipment and how to use it to get tricky shots like low-light, indoor, or action shots will make you love your photos even more. With practice, your everyday photos will turn into the kind of photos you can’t wait to hang on your wall. There are so many resources at your fingertips. There’s even a Big Picture Class that you can take to help you Master Manual Mode!

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Here’s my next tip for everyday photos: Get in there and get dirty. Okay, maybe not dirty in a literal sense, but don’t be afraid to get a new point of view for your photos. To get this shot, I actually took my camera and followed my girls around for their gymnastics class. The teacher didn’t seem to mind one bit. Had I not asked, I’d get the shot from hundreds of yards away and certainly not at this angle. My best friend, Sam, told me once that when she has her camera in her hand she feels like she can go anywhere and shoot anything. While that might not be totally true, it’s certainly a great way to get “the shot.” Don’t be afraid to step across the row of chairs at your kid’s class so they can remember it. Ask if it’s okay, get out of your comfort zone. My kids loved that I did this. They couldn’t wait to show me what they could do. Who cares if other moms don’t do it! You do!

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I know it’s been touched on before, but get your booty into those photos. Being behind the camera is where I’m most comfortable, too. I get it. However, your kids are going to want pictures with you in them. I sure wish I had more of my mom with me growing up. Set the timer and catch yourself doing what you do! Read books, laugh, play, eat your lunch, change diapers, etc. You don’t even need a tripod, put your camera on the counter or a stack of books (as long as it’s stable). Just do it. I know you don’t want to, but you need to. As I write this post, my daughter, Teagan (on the right), came up to me at the computer and said “WOW, you beautiful, mom!” See? Kids don’t see those extra 20lbs you want to drop or the fact that you didn’t wash your hair that morning (both of which I’m rockin’ in this photo, by the way). They just see you and you’re important to them.

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Technically perfect, this photo is not. The shutter speed is too slow (see his hand movement) and the high ISO created a lot of grain. However, this is real and it is one of my favorite photos. You just gotta get yourself in the mindset to be ready to take everyday photos to get these kind of shots. We were eating lunch in Tahoe when this hug between Teagan and Daddy happened. I wasn’t fully prepared but I grabbed my camera so fast and shot it anyway. I had my camera with me, which is the first step. Even when it gets annoying, take the camera with you. Even when you think nothing photo-worthy is happening, take it. Tell the other adults that are with you that they’re free to take some shots as well. You might be surprised what you get.

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You can learn more about Lindsay here, and check more of her everyday photos and Project Life pages on her blog.

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