Wednesday 30 January 2013

The Family Photograph

I'm currently in the process of getting our family photo album of 2012 together (you know I'm obsessed with documenting, right?) and am realising how few photos we have of our family together. In fact there are very few photos with me in at all, mainly as I'm normally the person behind the camera.



Getting nice shots of us all is hard. Hugh took this with the camera at arms length. His height (6'4") brings the advantage of long arms with which to take self portraits.



I, rather bravely I think, submitted this photo (also taken at arms length by Hught) to the Dos Family Picture Tour. This is a shot I love, despite it not being the most flattering of any of us (Hugh is in his old DIY glases - oh and I do actually have a neck in real life) but this captured a moment of wonderful togetherness last summer, lying on our grass, just enjoying life.





We also occasionally put the timer on the camera... with mixed success.
Maybe the problem is that there is just something inherently CHEESY about family photos. I love the ones James at Bleubird does of her family. But then they could all be models and there is something we-are-trying-not-to-look-polished-but-really-we-are about them, don't you think? or am I being a bit enviously ungenerous there?
Above is a rare shot taken by someone else - I like this photo - but maybe that is because it's my family...  would this fall into my cheesy category if it was someone else's family? Harsh, I know.



I don't think this really counts as a family photo as Hugh only features below the knee but this image (from March 2011) sums up an era of our live, already fast disappearing. It's a typical weekend morning - the porridge pot on the table, the baby on the playmat, Coco busy playing and me with a towel on my head (and crocs - oh, the shame)!

So, this year I'm on a mission. I will get some nice photos of us together. Just need to think outside/upside-down/around the box about it.
Please share any tips or ideas...


10 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos - I especially like the first one!

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    1. Yes I like it - annoyed about the people in the background now though! I like the fact we are all crowding in but there is actually quite a lot of space, only in a selfie!

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  2. We have the same problem. Apart from a couple of Christmas photos that also have a santa in them our last family photo was from February last year! Planning to rectify this very soon. I like your last photo! Such a snapshot of time.

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    Replies
    1. You're gonna have to get some good shots of all of you on your travels, better get some practice with the self timer...

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  3. Alexis, I love that last photo, that's the perfect family portrait to me (bar missing quite a lot of Hugh of course)!

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  4. I love that last one - absolutely perfect! It should be a Shirley Hughes illustration...

    x

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  5. Yes, family portraits are the best ! For the first time in my "family" life I am offered a family photo shooting.
    Have a look at this artist, she makes people's pictures in a "frame" and make a photo collage of different ones, she calls Happy Box.
    http://www.dimonphotography.com/272086/happy-box/
    X

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  6. Oh gosh it is so hard to get family portraits, I mean there are always tripods but ours always end up so wooden! Perhaps I should just set it up in the corner of the room to go off occasionally. I love the last one, such an accurate shot of family life!

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  7. Beautiful set of photos. I particularly like the photos on the grass, really lovely.
    The last photo is great too, an interesting twist on what we would usually consider a family portrait. I really like it. x

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