Pick up the Camera, Point, Shoot!

The above photo is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken with an iPhone camera on Halloween last year. He was 9 months old then.



I was paging through my camera the other day, noticing a few things.



1. We haven't taken very many pictures this summer. Bad parents!



2. The pictures we DO have are not of me. None. There's not a single photo of me on our camera from this summer. And I was with him every. single. day.



3. There are lots of cute pictures of Thomas and my hubby.



These realizations made me so very sad. Allow me to elaborate.



1. I just found an amazing blogger who posts adorable photos of her family. They're capturing the every day moments that are so fleeting. The ones we'll wish back in years to come. But we won't remember to wish them back because we'll have no record of them! I love my life right now. I love my little dude right now. I don't want to forget anything. So we must take more photos!



2. Okay, so it's not like I want to have my picture taken. Know what I mean? I don't want to flip through photo after photo of me on the camera or in a photo book. But I know how much I cherish the photos of me and my parents from growing up. Me with my mom. Me with my dad. Me with my brothers. All of us together. I love all of them. As of right now, there are probably 10 to 1 photos of my hubby with our kiddo to me with our kiddo.



3. For some reason, I'm always the photographer. My husband did an enormous amount of research on the camera we bought to document our kiddo's life. He loves David Pogue. And David Pogue recommended our camera. However, my hubby has never once initiated taking a photo. EVER. He's embarrassed to do it. This pre-dates having a kid. When we were on vacation in Italy, he was embarrassed when I'd take pictures of the food we were enjoying. Now, however, he is so thankful that we have those photos.



Why is it that women can see the future? I somehow knew we'd appreciate the photos, even though I looked like a tourist when taking them (Hey, we WERE tourists. Who cares?!). I somehow know we'll regret not taking more photos of our daily life.



But why do I feel weird asking him to take a photo of me and Thomas? It just feels wrong. Is that weird? I've captured so many adorable, precious moments between the two of them because I take the initiative to pick up the camera and shoot! It ruins the moment to say, "pick up the camera, Hunny! We're doing something really cute right now, don't you think???" Then I might as well say, "Can you get me from the other angle? It's my good side." It just feels wrong to ask someone to take a candid picture of you.



Before you start thinking my hubby is a jerk (he's not!), in case you didn't know, this is actually quite common. But that doesn't make it right. I have talked to many moms who say that they are always the photographers in their families. Several moms admitted that at their kids' professional photo shoots, they have to ask the photographer if they can jump in a photo at the end of the session, because those would be the only pictures they have with their kids at that age. I'm not alone. But again, that doesn't make it right.



Hunny, are you reading?! Pick up the camera!



Other moms, have you noticed this problem? Some dads get really into photography, which is awesome. I'm just looking for a little more balance.