You know you want to sing along right? My husband turned 40 on Monday so of course that called for a 3 day celebration. The celebration culminated with a family birthday party this evening at my parents' house. Thanks to my addiction to Pinterest, I knew exactly what I was going to do for decorations. I bought a helium tank, blew up 40 balloons and attached a photo to each balloon. I know! cute, right? Go ahead....steal the idea like I did!
As I began to go through photo albums in search of the best 40 photos I could find, I couldn't help but critique my photography skills (or lack thereof). I began to put photos aside because they weren't good enough to make the cut and then it dawned on me...these snapshots are what document our lives. These are the photos that we will come across in an album and they will conjure up stories that cause a family to erupt in laughter. Is the focus spot on? no! is the composition interesting? usually not. Is the exposure perfect? no way! Do I love the photos? YOU BET!
Sometimes we have to put aside our photographer mentality and just snap some shots.
My kids were so excited when they saw me flipping through albums and they each wanted to take their albums to their rooms so they could look through the photos. That is what photography is all about. It's about capturing moments that we can reminisce about with our children and grandchildren. Of course I will still continue to search out that perfect shot, but I am also alright with the inbetween snapshots of our life because those are what tell our stories.
Of course I couldn't resist a few artistic shots to capture the occasion.
And I leave you with a few quotes and encourage you to embrace the snapshots in your life.
"Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life."
Brian Andreas
“A photograph taken today is a lifetime of yesterdays preserved for all the tomorrows.”
~author unknown
“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.
~Eudora Welty”
Don't forget about Linda's linky party happening tomorrow! Do you have a story for us?
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13 comments:
Happy Birthday to your husband! I absolutely love this idea, and your photos of it are amazing!
And thank you for the reminder about the snapshots of our lives. I think sometimes I focus so much on getting the perfect photo, that I forget that 20 years from now my kids aren't going to care about the technical quality of my shots, they are going to want to see the memories.
Beautiful post in all ways, Leigh. Life affirming. Love affirming. Such a celebration of what is good and strong and real. Snapshots, right on, right on. He's a lucky man. Tell him I said that. Tell him often.
oxoxoxo FG
What a charming idea! Your family will remember you celebrations-- and all your effort you put into this! Looks like a blast!
I so agree with you. Snapshots are what we muse over years to come. Your family is blessed to have someone as dedicated as you are. Happy happy to all!
By the way... love everyone of your quote. So ture!
Hugs
Claudia
Such a great decorating idea and I'm already thinking about the next occasion where I can use this! I recently had to pull together a bunch of photos for display at my Mom's 75th birthday party. Some were good. Some were not.But I must say, the "photo table" got the most attention all day, by everyone who stopped by to wish her a happy birthday. Great post, good reminders to just capture life - technically good photos or not.
Where to begin? So much to like here. First, Happy Birthday to the Birthday Boy. Second, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your balloon/photo idea. And the photos you took to illustrate them are all beautiful and oh, so inspiring! I'm sending this post to my daughter right now so we can plan our next family birthday. Let's see - Oh! That would be Peepaw - aka "Dad".Yeehaw!!! We can have some fun with this. I think it just might become a family tradition for each birthday.
And ... I can't sign off without thanking you for your reminder that not all of the photos we take have to be museum-worthy. At the end of the day - it's about the memories, the moments.
xo
:-D
such a fun way to celebrate a milestone birthday! and also, i would just like to echo what everyone else said about snapshots. for me, it seems like the better i get at "photography" the less i take "snapshots". but at the end of the day, if i had to pack up and leave with just my most precious belongings, i would grab my scrapbooks full of the imperfect, poorly focused snapshots of my family and friends. thanks for the reminder (and permission) to take off my "photographer" hat more often. :) love, kelly
Great Post Leigh, We recently had a retirement party for my Mom. She is 73 years old and has been working since she was 14 years old. As you can imagine we had a lot of celebrating to do. I took many photos from the party and I have been trying to edit them. After reading your post I am just going to print them the way they are. Thank you for your insight.
Hi Leigh - I didn't have time to look until now today, so I can only echo what everyone has said. I love the party concept, and I love your quotes. I can take the snapshot concept even another step by telling you that my sister actually said to me - now your pictures are too artsy for me - I liked your first ones!
Family and friends don't care about the technicalities - they love the memories. Of course, it's great to combine both! With enough practice maybe we can all take perfect snapshots!
Well this is just so fun. First Happy Birthday to the youngster...and 2nd what a great, great idea. So fun and colorful and you are so right on with knowing that eventho some of the shots are not spot perfect they are still loved and bring back wonderful memories of the moment. I used the quote from Eudora Welty on my postcards, I love it and all the others as well.
I just LOVE this idea! I'm filling it away to use the next time an occasion presents itself. Or maybe I'll just make up an occasion so I can use it! When I show my husband photos I take now, he says, "Yeah, it's a flower. So what?" But if I show him people pictures, he can't get enough, whether they are old ones that are poorly shot or more recent ones. Yes, it's definitely the memory that we are trying to capture with our photography. Off I go to create some more memories on this wonderful vacation I'm on!
Well, I wish his birthday had been before mine, as this would have been a fun hint to drop to the family. I had the most uneventful 50th ever! haha And I so agree, we need to be more freeing in our capacity to take and make photos of family memories!!
Oops, forgot to say that I LOVE the photos, especially that last one!!
Hope your hubby had a great b-day, these balloons with photos are awesome, i will definitely steel this idea... i love pinteres!
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