Moments of the Month | September 2013

Recently, I was chatting with the mother of two kids I was photographing for my fun Back to School Mini Session event in Larchmont.  She likes taking pictures as a hobby, but was lamenting that she finds it impossible to get good photos of her kids.  I told her about the well known syndrome, “PCS” — Photographer’s Child Syndrome.  (It’s a real thing — I swear.  Afflicting millions.)   “How, then,” she asked, “do you get all the beautiful photos you post of your kids on your website?”

I’ve been thinking about that question tonight as I (finally) have gone through the photos I took in September.  I definitely love many of the pictures I take of my kids, but most of my favorites are the ones  that have much less to do with trying to take great photos of my kids than being ready to grab those beautiful moments with my camera when I see them happening.    This month’s collections of photos is really pretty perfect for illustrating what I mean by that.

Here’s what I get when I ask my two youngest to sit for a minute and help me test out some new lighting equipment.  Nice.

Here’s a stiff and reluctant (but oh so obligatory) first day of school photo.  Ninth, eighth, fifth and first.  Yikes.  On so many levels.

This, on the other hand, I love.  I have no idea what’s wrong with his sandwich, but I love what’s happening here.

A muffin party for his half birthday.  Ten and a half!  A must-have moment.

This next bunch are from an afternoon we spent in Chinatown, Little Italy and Tribeca.

See?  It’s so much more fun to catch them in the act have having fun!  This next one might be my favorite for the month.  They’ve “won” some dopey carnival game and have agreed that the little guy can pick the prize — but each of them has strong opinions on which prize should be chosen.  That Jamaican banana was the center of most of the fun that happened for the rest of the afternoon.

Jamaican banana photo bomb!

I have no idea what’s going on in either of the following two photos.

This one’s from a visit we had from my fun Canadian cousins.  The photo’s a little sad because they’re leaving in this picture.  But!  Soon after this visit, they decided to MOVE to NY, so we’ll be seeing much more of them.  Yay!

And finally, some very cool (to me) pictures taken in the pitch dark on our back deck.  I love the way the light from our outdoor chiminea silhouettes my boys’ faces.

And Instagram, of course, hold tons of little moments I decide to keep.  Some even without kids!

So, there you have it.   Thanks for looking!

~Jaye