This is a guest post by new dad Sam Davidson. He’s figuring out what’s next in life while taking lots of pictures.
Baby pictures – if you have the right photographer, camera, or baby – can be great. They’re priceless memories preserved on film or a computer for relatives and friends to coo and comment on. Of course, if you have an ugly baby or a crappy camera, no one will ever want to see any representation of your child ever again.
Yet, even ugly babies deserve to have their picture taken. I’m not sure what primal nurturing force within us looks at a picture of a young boy or girl and immediately feels empathy, pride, motivation, and warmth. Whatever it is, it hit me full force this week.
My wife and I take lots of pictures of our daughter. Here’s one of her in a giant hat:
Any occasion is a chance to take a picture. Her first stroller ride? Take 400 pictures. The second time she sat up? Spend 30 minutes clicking away. Spit up on the cat? Take multiple pictures of her and the cat. We’re still not sure we’re up for having another child, but I’ve heard from everyone that subsequent children get fewer pictures taken of them by a factor of infinity. My family is living proof. There’s a picture of me for everything from my first steps to my first baseball game. My younger sisters don’t show up on film until they graduated high school.
Here’s my daughter in the bathtub:
Anyway, a real (professional) photographer came over this week to take some family pictures. I did my best to dress in khaki and white and we all did our best to get our daughter to look at the camera. I can’t wait to flip through several dozen pictures of my daughter not smiling with her head tilted slightly to the side trying to figure out why Daddy is waving his hands like a loon and Mommy is making weird noises.
The things we do for memories. One such person is Adele Enerson who reached Internet stardom this week with pictures of her baby Mila in various states of dreaming. Move over, Anne Geddes.
For all the pictures we take, the best part is sharing them. We love to look at images of our daughter in various states of ordinary activity, but so do others. And this validates all of the shutter clicks. When I send pictures to my grandfather, I know it was worth all 97 shots of her in that same dress. His pride and elation speak 1,000 words, which seems a fair price for any picture.
