A Case for Candid Family Photos

I first started taking photos thanks to a photography class at my high school; we learned how to use film cameras, develop film in a dark room, and then dove into digital cameras and editing. I was immediately enamored. I’d borrow the school’s camera or a friend’s camera whenever I could, I took stereotypical “artsy” photos of the 2010s and uploaded them to Facebook Albums complete with a watermark.

I took photos off and on through the years, mostly of my kids as they grew or for my old blog about homemaking. It wasn’t until I started working at our church, I picked up running the social media pages along with my main job, that I really got back into photography. That was five years ago.

Since I was a little rusty I made sure to schedule myself to take photos for every single event and that’s where I fell back in love with photography. Capturing those candid moments of the Holy Spirit working is a beautiful gift and I am honored I was able to spend a few years capturing those moments and honing my craft. It’s where I fell in love with candid photography.

Adobe describes candid photography as, “true and revealing;” perhaps that’s why I enjoy it so much. But it’s more than telling a story, to me, candid photography is about preserving memories. I recently read this article that said, “That’s the magic of photography. It gives you a record of who you were becoming, long before you understood it yourself.”

For young families, taking candid photos is especially important as kids grow and change in the blink of an eye. So take that photo of the kids play-wrestling, let them show up to family photos with a slightly sticky face from the lollipop you bribed them with, don’t stress about perfectly coordinated outfits because perfect outfits aren’t real life.

There’s a time and place for editorial-style, perfectly posed photos — they are a form of art after all — but it seems that “We’ve become obsessed with looking professional rather than being perceptive. The photograph is no longer evidence of seeing; it’s proof of branding” (The Disease of Aesthetic Photography by Jared Thomas Tapy). When you have photos taken, it’s important to make sure the style matches with your intended use as well as your personal style.

So this is my petition, to embrace the slightly chaotic family photos in order to preserve time that we can’t hold on to.

Want more? Read my deep dive on candid vs. editorial photography on Substack.