13 Ways to Better Photos...DAY 9 {documentation}

Not too long ago, I decided that scrapbooking was more likely-than-not a thing of the past for me. I love the pretty paper, I love the glue & scissors that go along with it. But after some serious soul-searching (did you even know you could do that in relation to scrapbooking?) I realized that I was doing it for the wrong reasons. My original intent was to create memory books for friends, family, & ourselves to enjoy. I didn’t want to be wasteful. I didn’t want to have to built on an addition to our home after 20 years of marriage to house all the Family Albums. And I didn’t want to be so paranoid about losing all that precious time. Our friends & family didn’t once pick up the scrapbooks. We rarely thumbed through them because of their bulk. And so I decided that my motives were wrong…& that digital photo books were taking the place of all that craftiness.

And you know what? I haven’t looked back.

Because I am still writing about those photos. I’m still scrapbooking some things. And if you take some time in blogland to find tidbits of amazing inspiration, you’ll quickly find that there are plenty of opportunities to document without fancy paper & expensive glue.

Photography plays a key part in recording the Days of Our Lives…well, YOUR life at least.

Last year I put together a Christmas Scrapbook that will be added to year-after-year. I’m excited for a few reasons:

**We will get this album out each year with our Christmas decorations—it won’t be something we look through all year.
**The album is small enough to sit on our coffee table.
**It is basic & easy to put together.
**It is a perfect way to hold our yearly Christmas card + record memories specific to each Christmas.

Around the same time, I also put together a photo-guest book. My parents originally started this concept at their rental house--& it is HILARIOUS to look back on years of Polaroids & accompanying notes. This format is a bit more streamlined…but as Jon & I continue to move, grow, & house our favorite people for short snippets of time, what better way to keep track of who we’ve been able to share our home with!!?

Using the same background (a tree, for example) & getting seasonal shots of your backyard, your family, your child is a great way to document time passing.

These parents got creative—I would LOVE to have similar photos of us when we were growing.

And here is a slightly more manageable version: plop your kid (or spouse if you’d like to see how they’ve aged) in the same chair for the first few years of their lives.

This is another detail-oriented photo-op. By not including the kids’ faces, this photographer captures a different kind of photo. Notice how, without the face, you tend to focus on the details?

Not so good with words? Try this photo book idea...how awesome to get one of these each year for a birthday from a collaboration of family members!!

So get creative. Your photos don’t have to be boring. Or repetitious.

The possibilities truly ARE endless.



This post is part of a photography series...
Day 1 {angle}
Day 2 {the golden rule}
Day 3 {composition}
Day 4 {lighting}
Day 5 {perspective}
Day 6 {details}
Day 7 {focus}
Day 8 {camera talk}