I photographed my daughter’s dance school this past weekend (ages 1-7 this weekend, big kids in June) and I got dozens of compliments. So why am I focusing on the one NOT nice thing someone said and letting it bother me so much? It got me thinking….

In the 70’s and 80’s I was barely photographed as a child. Why? NO ONE HAD CAMERAS! So the few pictures we had were CHERISHED. They still are. I have ONE picture of me in my Mommy’s belly… and when it’s gone, it’s gone. No digital, no negative. Yet just last week I took like 37 pictures of my Golden Retriever cuddling his kitty to get just the right angle for Instagram. My how times have changed.

When my daughter was little, she would make the most ridiculous face for her school photos. She’s a cute kid, I promise you, but you would NEVER know that by her school photo. It got so bad I stopped purchasing anything except the class photo. But now, a decade later, we look at those pictures and laugh and laugh… because that’s just WHO SHE WAS for that moment in time. She thought she was giving the photographer her BEST smile, and that’s hysterical.

As a team and volume photographer I don’t have time to take 37 pictures of your child to get THE best expression. That’s not how it works. I do, however, give 110% in the 30 seconds I have to get the best that I can to create a memory for you. So instead of being unhappy with your photo, or worse, your child, let’s start a new tradition…. when you sit your dancer in your lap and look at your dance pictures of years past say this… “oh, sweetie, this was the year you would NOT smile….”… or “this was the year you had the giggles and wouldn’t stand still….” or “look at your first leaping picture and how much you’ve improved over the years!” Pictures don’t have to be perfect to be wonderful…

And I will leave you with this… DISPLAY THESE PHOTOS! In an album, in a memory box, on your walls… let these precious photos remind you and your child how far they’ve come as a dancer…. Your child doesn’t see photos on Facebook, they see photos displayed in their home.