I love pictures. I’m also a photography snob and I love the artistic, candid images you get when you choose a really talented professional. When the opportunity to work with Kandid.ly came up, I couldn’t wait.
But as the date got closer, I started to get nervous. Unlike a traditional family photo shoot, this did not allow for coordinated outfits and planned poses. Instead, a photographer was going to be following me around throughout our bedtime routine.
Maybe it’s just my house, but around here bedtime can be rough, complete with tears, threats, and lost stuffed animals. And it isn’t exciting…just the same nighttime routine we do every night. Plus, it felt like a guest was coming over, and everything in me said, “Clean, clean clean! Pretend your house always looks like something out of a catalog.” As luck would have it, I didn’t have time to clean, and I ultimately decided to leave my house exactly as it looked. If I wanted to capture authentic memories, they needed to include a disaster area.
I also worried (more than a little) how my kids would handle a photographer in the house. Sometimes a camera brings out all kinds of crazy in them, and not in a good way.
When Kati** arrived, her demeanor put me completely at ease. My kids loved her and felt comfortable with her. She even let them see and examine the camera before she starting taking pictures. There was definitely fussing, and protesting, and one child who couldn’t quite get to sleep until he was sure the fun had left the building,
but I didn’t feel like I needed to apologize. (I thought about asking Kati to babysit…she was that good with my kids.) She stayed longer than the hour allotted, and even took pictures of my boys’ trains when they asked.
Her work is gorgeous, and it was amazing to see how our routine looks to the outside eye. (For the record, I wasn’t sure how my husband would feel about being followed around with a camera, so I chose a day when he worked late. He isn’t hiding; he’s working.) Even though the house is messy, I apparently grew a double chin at some point, and I make some really unfortunate resting faces, I will cherish the pictures of me interacting with my kids. This is the stuff of life, and no one every bothers to document it.
I highly recommend this to other moms; we are always the ones behind the camera. Someday my kids will want to look at memories with me in them, and these pictures will be precious gifts.
Kandid.ly is an amazing service that looks to pair local photographers with families in the area in an effort to help them capture life’s moments while enjoying them too. Their website is easy to navigate and a great way to connect with affordable photography services designed to give you memories of your life, both big and small. Birthday parties, a trip to a local farmer’s market, a picnic in the park or as this series highlights… even documenting life at it’s most basic. Kandid.ly gives you quality prints and a professional experience at a price that will keep you coming back for more.
