Photographing the Youngest (how being the fourth changes things)

My sweet baby boy Fletcher just turned six months old on April 14th. Maybe it’s just because he is the youngest of four, and I am one busy mama, but these months have flown by.

I feel like he was just born, or rather, I was just 9 months pregnant feeling like he would never, ever come.

But came he did and grow he did. Very quickly. It made me realize that since he has been here, I have only gotten out my dslr camera a handful of times.

With my first born, Hazel, I was literally photographing her every day. I saved up for a special lens and would dress her in cute outfits just to take pictures of her. I had all the luxury time in the world, I suppose, and the perfect solo muse.

Fast forward 8 years later, and now I am busy running around caring for four kids plus the house, the meals, the laundry etc. And now with the Covid-19 situation, being a stay at home mom has even more responsibilities like school pressure and very few breaks. So sweet Fletcher hasn’t been on the opposite end of my dslr very often.

The other day, I spontaneously got it out and placed him near a low window with sunlight streaming. I used a piece of faux fur for the background (I watched a photographer do this when we got family photos a few months back). I didn’t dress him up in anything fancy, just a solid color shirt that he wears often. Snapped away and was happy with how he cooperated 😄 (one time I tried this with Hazel as a baby in a fancy outfit and she cried the whole time).

Once I had done it, I remembered it was wasn’t that difficult or time consuming to do and I should do it more often. Maybe the lack of instant ability to share or edit the photos makes me lean more towards the easier “camera” phone choice.

But this little session motivated me to want to start taking more pictures of him with my actual camera. The one we saved up for and I couldn’t wait to have just to take pictures of my little ones. Now, it more often sits in its bag until I remember to take it out.

Of course, I have still been photographing him…pretty much every single day of his life. Just in that other format we are all too familiar with.

I got an iPhone XR last year and really love the camera quality on it. It isn’t the same as my Canon, but for a busy mom who needs a quick camera on the go it definitely works!

Here are some cute shots I was able to get on my cell phone. I love editing cell phone pics with the VSCO app. I have a couple of “go-to” presets I gravitate towards: for color I usually like AV4 and for black and white, I prefer B2. Many times cell phone photos look better to me in black and white. Sometimes I add a little more contrast and slight “fade” to my photos in the app as well.

See what I mean about growing fast? This kid already learned how to clap, roll and move around. He will be crawling and getting into everything before I know it! And that hair! I can’t get over it. My girls were practically bald till two and here he is with all of this 😂

I hope when we look back he doesn’t feel short changed by not having as many “real” camera photos. I am going to try to get it out more to take more purposeful shots of him, but in the day to day, I am going to keep documenting our life on the easiest platform that I have with me all the time.

As much as I loathe how addicted to cell phones we all are these days, I am grateful for technology that makes my life easier and more convenient. And for how it helps me capture great memories with my little ones.

Till next time…