As we wind down with the photos from Ben's first year, I've had a few moments to reflect on the project.
Here we go:
- I won't lie: It's a lot of work
- That said, I really look forward to setting up our mini photo shoots and then reviewing the photos later to find the 'winner(s)'. Today I found myself practically begging for Ben to go down for his nap so I could look at this set of photos. Then I realized how messed up that was. So we sat down and ate cheerios instead. Such is life.
- It is less work as you go along. Most of these were shot "on the fly": on a walk, playing with boxes in the living room, in the Costco parking lot, etc. The only one where I actually got out and balanced the camera settings was for the 49 Week outdoor shot (which was for another project...more on that later) and for the scooter shot (which backfired on me anyway as he promptly waltzed into the bathroom to check out the sink fixtures). Frankly, he's a lot harder to pose now that he's mobile. Hence the 'on the fly' shots - some even with a camera phone (although the quality is crap on those).
- I wish I was better at taking pictures indoors. I really like outdoor shots but my indoor ones - especially in a house that is poorly lit - are not that great. I really, really need to work on my basic photography skills, especially my understanding of aperture/shutter speed/ISO. I'm tired of struggling in this department.
- Given that new parents take vast amounts of pictures of their newborn children anyway, this project probably wouldn't be that much of a stretch. I'll bet many of you already have pictures from each week, you just don't realize it. Or perhaps they're still on the camera. Adding a quick caption isn't that much extra work.
- I use Apple's Pages program to insert the shapes and lettering. It's quick and easy. There are many, many other programs that would work as well: Picassa and Word, to name a few.
- One thing to consider: If you do it for your firstborn child, be prepared to do it for successive kids as well. It was be so sad for your first child to have this wonderful documentation of their first year... and then nothing for the littler ones. So take that into account when thinking about tackling this project.
Oh, one more thing: I am very aware that all my photos are over-edited. But I just can't help myself. It's so much fun to bump up the saturation, do color corrections, and crop like crazy. So, I guess my goal into the new year is to become more proficient at photography so that I don't need to do so much work to make the pictures look good. How's that for a New Year's resolution?
I'm telling you - boxes make for awesome toys. This one gave us weeks of entertainment.
This little man sure likes shopping carts. Costco is the only place where the carts are double wide: two babies can sit side by side. Clearly, Ben needed a twin.
The kiddo is still working on his scooter skills.
Sometimes working on the plumbing is far more interesting.
Dad, I think I found your problem!
Speaking of having a hard time taking photos: I was working on a thank you card project (you might have noticed that piece of white poster board in his lap) but the little one would absolutely not sit still. Scrap that project.
And lastly, just hanging out in the crib. In his skivvies.
xxoo,
Sonja
