Yesterday, when I was on the floor taking THIS quick shot of PJ’s hungry cat, Bailey came in and laid on my back. Sometimes she comes to me and tells me she just needs a hug. I told her she could always ask for one if she was needing one and surprisingly she actually does it from time to time. It reminds me that just because she’s getting so big that she is still so little.

So she came and laid on my back and I could tell she just wanted to be close for a second. Luckily Chris came in at that exact moment and I handed him my camera.

The settings were wrong, his focus was off but he kept snapping as the other kids came in and I am head over heels in love with these shots. Mostly because we’re all such a mess, on the floor in our kitchen just being silly. Also because I show up so rarely in photos around here I treasure them that much more.

Saturday I had a camera class at my house and I always tell the people that come to embrace the grain. To leave their camera on manual and forget about that darn flash even if the photos aren’t perfect. I KNOW it can be hard to see imperfect photos come off your camera card. I KNOW everyone yearns for that perfect shot with sparkling eyes and beautiful golden light of your perfectly manicured children smiling at the camera like little cherubs. HA! Seriously, I know everyone that is learning how to truly use their camera just wants a few killer shots.

I get that. I’ve been there. I still screw up royally sometimes.

But what I want to remind you all of is the fact that you might just come to cherish those out of focus grainy photos even more. The ones taken while you’re learning.

Or even better, when you hand the camera to your husband so you can be in some too. Don’t even get me started on how important I think that is or how often I forget myself. Because I am always wanting great shots of my kids too. But these? The ones that include ME? These crazy photos couldn’t be more perfect!

So.

Do I think photographers should share the not-so-perfect images on their professional blogs? Yep.

I think it helps to show that we’re human and take less than stellar images sometimes(or our husbands do!). It helps to show real life, especially our own real life. And it helps prove that photography is, at it’s core, art. And art is subjective. Images you might find technically bad or uncreative or poorly executed might just be in the priceless category to me!