A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
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17 November 2023
We have been looking at photos of kids since, well, we were a kid. Which amounts to a lifetime by now.
So naturally, we have a little pressing advice for new parents. You know, before it's too late. Because it's too late before you know it.
Include a few adults in the pictures of your kids.
We see kids with their toys, with food, playing with things that are not toys, with dogs and cats, but in something that seems to have become a meme, rarely with any adults. Friends, grandparents, other family members are all excluded as if they were too tall to be in the picture.
But adults make great props. You can grab a spouse or a grandparent or even a public servant (like an ice cream man) to provide illuminating context and scale. Sometimes even a sibling will suffice. And in an emergency you can always insert yourself in the frame.
You know, to prove the kids are not orphaned.
Kids are adorable and movie actors are wary of appearing with them in films but the average viewer (namely ourselves) hits the wall with the cuteness thing after about three photos. Twelve borders on propaganda.
But we do want to know who was visiting and what they did with the kids and what the kids did to them, too. Tell the story!
And guess what? When they have kids of their own, the photo that will be in a little frame on their desk won't be that image of themselves alone with a bowl of spaghetti on their face but the one in which they are hugged by a grandparent they loved.
And they'll probably ask you to pose with their kid for a photo.