Stay At Home - Document Life

We are living through unprecedented events and although it is scary and uncertain, it is revealing opportunities for growth and expansion for humankind. I’m doing my best over here to keep a positive attitude - uncertain for what all of this means for the future of portrait photography. One thing I know for sure is this: I believe in making memories with my family that can stand the test of time through photographs that document our lives.

Memories of the messes we make, the silly inside jokes that only we can understand, and the still, quiet moments of what sometimes seems like an ordinary existence.

This situation has prompted creative people to do some very creative things. You may have seen the recent ‘porch picture’ trend on the news or on social media. Photographers everywhere are doing what they do best, documenting life, even in tough times. Some are 10 feet away on the lawn and others through the window of a car on a drive-by. Though I love the porch picture idea, there are many in this industry that are encouraging us against it until the stay-at-home orders are over and the risk of infection is much lower. I agree with this recommendation, instead, I’m staying home and breaking out the camera whenever the inspiration rises.

I decided to do a little porch picture session of my own just to show you how simple it is to get photos of your family, with YOU in them.

Honesty alert: These pictures are real. They were shot on an iPhone 7, not my wonderful full frame Nikon DSLR with soft bokeh background. No lenses, no tripod, no manual settings. I set up a shotgun stand, turned on the self timer and did my best to get kids my kids to cooperate.

And while we are talking about honesty, let’s be real about kids and photographs. Even the best photographers sometimes struggle to get kids situated for photographs. If I had a dime for every time I’ve asked my children to model for me and/or sit in a picture with me and they refused, I’d be rich!

The goal of capturing your own images at home is to try your very best to have fun. Sometimes it just doesn’t work, but sometimes it does. My best advice is just lower your expectations about the end result. Even in this short 15-minute session I did with my kids, the angles were wonky, the focus was soft and the color tones were driving me crazy. But the end result is that I have these pictures of me with them. There are so many times I’m not in the photograph and I know that twenty years down the road I’ll be so happy we have these images. I edited these photos by playing with the contrast, the white balance and the brilliance and then used a black and white filter.

These photos probably won’t be blown up on my walls in beautiful frames like the ones I take with my professional camera, but they will get printed and shared. And what’s most special is I know these were taken when times were tough and weird, making the smiles and giggles you see, all the more special.

I encourage everyone to try this, even if you don’t have kids and it’s just you and your roommate, your spouse, your partner or your furry friend. Take them in your jammies on the bed or at the breakfast table eating waffles. Just take pictures!

I’d love to see and share some of your own family selfies, so tag me in your social posts.

Here’s my shotgun approach to setting this all up:

I did it in two locations around our house with a stool, a laundry basket, some books and a vase to support my phone. If you have a phone tripod, try using that. There are tutorials online for creating your own phone tripod too. I just turned the self timer on the 10 second shutter to give me time to sit back in place. On the iPhone, the self timer is located at the very top of your screen when you go to camera and put it in photo mode. Press on the little icon that looks like a clock and it gives you options for 3s or 10s. Turn your screen around like you’re taking a selfie, then press the shutter button and the camera will count down 10 seconds before the shutter releases.

If you have a DSLR camera, you can make even nicer photos. Or if you have portrait mode on your phone, try that!

Oh and it wouldn’t be a DIY without a behind the scenes!