I’m not always the first person to jump on silver linings (I’m working on it!) but hunkering down at home to me feels like the perfect opportunity to encourage you and everyone else I know to take more photos of your people.
All the family photographers are working hard to find new, safer ways to document families, and while I will also be opening up outdoor family sessions again soon, it will be awhile before things are fully back to normal again.
The weirdness of these days deserve to be marked, and it might be more important than ever to look for and capture small moments of joy and connection. It’s always worth documenting your life at home, and family photoshoots are nice! No need to put any pressure on yourself,
It’s a whole letting go thing.
Grab a Camera (any camera)
If the best camera is the one you have on you, that goes double for family photography. Phones are great and will always do in a pinch, but I think this is also the perfect time to really embrace the slower pace of things (I’m clearly biased toward film photography, but you knew that going in). There’s a good chance someone in your family has an old film camera lying around you can commandeer, and if they don’t Craigslist surely does. A few years ago I bought half a dozen $5-$10 point-and-shoot film cameras so guests could help document our anniversary party. It was super user-friendly and the results were so good.
Try Some Film
Vancouver photographers know you always need to be prepared for grey, dark days, even in summer (hello, June-uary), so I recommend always having a few rolls of 400-speed film on hand, like Superia 400, Ultramax 400 or Portra 400. And if you want to shoot black and white (you do, so classy) Delta 400, HP5 or Tri-X are all beauties.
Look for the Light
There have been a bunch of posts going around lately encouraging photographers to look for the light in our own homes, and you can do the same thing. Even before you pick up the camera, take a little time when you can to see where the light falls at different times of day.
Vancouver Photo Ideas (or Get Outside!)
With the weather perking up, and restrictions easing a little, now is a great time to take that camera outside. Queen Elizabeth Park is a perennial favourite, along with Jonathan Rogers Park (excellent playground and a beauty of a community garden) and Spanish Banks beach. If you’re up for going a little further afield, Iona Beach is lovely and places like Steveston and Ladner make for great field trips. Last year I took my favourite point-and-shoot to Emma Lea farms for some strawberry picking. Outdoor activities are the perfect excuse to take more photos of your people.
Take More Photos, Print More Photos
It’s possible that the only thing I talk about more than film is printing your photos. Few things bring back a memory like a picture you can hold in your hand, and while it may seems strange now, you’ll be glad in a year or five or twenty that you created these little physical memories.
The point is not to be perfect (the point is never to be perfect). It’s just to recognize that this is life, too, and these moments deserve to be documented, and you’ll look back on them with the same mixed bag of emotions that come with re-living any era of your life. You’ll never regret taking more photos of your people.
Go forth and document!