Shutter Sisters

kids life

By

“Shoot what you know” is what they say.

And I know these two.

Yet it isn’t until very recently that I realized that my sons, now almost 8, have been a constant source of inspiration whether I was holding a pen or my camera. And though I am now able to create a routine that revolves a little more around my work rather than school schedules, and I no longer feel the compulsive urge to squeeze and kiss their cheeks all the time, documenting my children’s daily life is still one of the greatest joys of mine.

It’s little surprise then that some of my favorite photographers like Hitoshi Ishihara, Jenifer Altman, Bob Smith and Alison Garnett are also parents. And parents who photograph their kids. A lot. There’s just something heartbreakingly beautiful and touching when we are faced with such innocence, curiosity and unrestrained joy of life.

What about you? Do you photograph children a lot (yours or otherwise)? Please share your images of kids life with us today.

Comments

  6. I don’t have my own children but every chance I get, I snap at it. Same with animals. I believe its because I enjoy the thrill of the chase and the hope of getting one really good shot.
    My 9yo niece: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterboo502/4181911081/
    My 3yo niece: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterboo502/4137078020/
    I had a blast crawling on the floor following a 2yo yesterday – and it paid off. But I’m still sorting through that pile. 🙂

  11. Funny you should post this today. For my 365 project I had a little photo shoot with my eldest yesterday. He is almost 8 as well. Here are a select few from our fun little afternoon: http://oneshortyear.blogspot.com/2010/01/nine.html

    Here’s a shot of my other two (almost 2 and then just 2 months): http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4245282340_9b11d8179e_b.jpg

    My kids are my favorite subjects, so I anyone who follows my blog will see lots of them. The only problem is that I can’t help but post the not-so-great quality photos of their best expressions. :-/

  14. I just posted these yesterday…some of the 10,000 photos I have on my computer, and yes we back them up! Enjoying this site and looking at everyones beautiful pictures:)

  17. what a precious photo. and very cool processing, too. it reminds me of some of the perfectly faded with age photos of my husband and his brother {the were the only kids in their family} from the 70s. they were the cutest photos, ’cause they were best friends and the fact that they loved each other was evident in the photo. they were inseparable and loved to do anything together. looks like your guys are, too. so sweet.

    i don’t have kids, but i’m fortunate to have friends and family that have them. and i’m fortunate that they’ve allowed me to have little photo shoots with them to practice my taking pics of children — otherwise, i’d have no way of learning this. i just called my sis yesterday to ask if i could come out and do a practice session with her three kids in the snow.

    anyway, one of my favorite shots that i’ve taken yet is of one of my best friends with her daughter. the day was spent just getting shots of her daughter, but we took a break to play in the park, as her daughter was getting a bit antsy and tired of picture-taking and just wanted to play. it ended up that taking impromptu pics during that were my best shots of the day.
    anyway, here’s my favorite:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28567264@N05/4025275341/in/set-72157623125785794/

  18. Daily. Photographing my children helps me focus on the innocence, humor, simplicity, and magic of our daily lives. From the images friends have seen of my kids, they have asked me to photograph theirs. Providing images that create these same emotions for others makes me feel I have a purpose.

    http://schutterbug.blogspot.com

  41. I am constantly photographing my nieces, friends children and sometimes strangers children (with permission).

    I love photographing children because I think they continually capture the simplicity of everything. They love, they play, they sleep, they eat. There is no manipulation. There is no conditions on what they give you. They give you hugs and growls and laughter and that is enough for me…

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22522584@N02/4246127637/

  42. I photograph my daughter all the time. Even moreso now that she seems to be entering a phase where she’ll sit still for a picture every once in a while. I’ve already sent this to the SS365 pool, but I thought it’d be a good one to share for this post. It has been REALLY cold in Florida these days and our heater isn’t quite able to handle it. There’s been alot more co-sleeping and morning snuggling going on to keep warm and I took this as my daughter was waking up in our bed the other morning.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/fanglord2/4256857001/

  46. I started a 365 project on 1/09 and at first told myself that I wouldn’t photograph my kids. It felt like cheating – they are so consuming of my time that I thought I was going to force myself to look elsewhere for 365 inspiration. I made it 8 days.

    My oldest:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/enniferj8/3655460861/in/set-72157612068453319/

    My middle:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/enniferj8/4238278155/in/set-72157612068453319/

    My wee:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/enniferj8/4220921506/in/set-72157612068453319/

  47. Now you’ve done it. How do I choose, when basically a good portion of my blog is devoted to my kid?? Funnily enough, my most recent post has a two-photo collage (one of my favourite ways of putting together a "story") which captures my daughter’s spirit very well. My post itself is kind of self-deprecating and silly, but the photo livens it up nicely I think.

    http://moseyalong.blogspot.com/2010/01/on-being-irked.html

    I love the dreaminess of the photo of your two boys.

  51. I think some of my best photos are of my children, but the thought of posting images of their faces online wigs me out. This has had some interesting effects on my photography in the time since I’ve become active on flickr. I now look for opportunities to capture their spirit and our moments together with and without their faces in the shot & I’ve taken some photos I really love that I don’t think I would have seen without this self-imposed constraint.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22487105@N06/4266244641/?edited=1

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22487105@N06/3710981530/in/set-72157622418015954/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22487105@N06/4161108267/in/set-72157621744480945/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22487105@N06/4252970408/in/set-72157621744480945/