Dream jobs

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do as far as "work" in the next few years when I get the boys into preschool and Kindergarten. I know a few of my friends and acquaintances do "lifestyle photography" and they all love it and the pictures are beautiful and it's a pretty good deal. HOWEVER, I am ANTI-photoshoots. They are SO unnatural. How is that LIFESTYLE photography? I don't hang out in sun kissed fields in a white cowl neck sweater and gold bracelets and feather earrings with my family, dressed in preppy outfits that we bought JUST for a photoshoot!!! (Speaking of which - these photographers telling people what to wear...no thanks!) Never ONCE have I done that! I mean sure they're beautiful pictures, but isn't there something to say for a memory that goes along with a picture? So I'VE decided that I'm going to start something different. I'm going to offer a service that gives a few hours of my day to come and just take pictures of everyone in their pajamas and glasses on Saturday morning, playing in the sunshine on the living room floor, or falling down with the most dramatic, red, screaming face, and then being scooped up by daddy, who is smiling and kissing their booboo. I also love the time of night when everyone's going nuts and mom's trying to make dinner and then daddy walks in from work and the kids are all excited, and daddy's excited to be home. Don't you wish you had pictures of that? Or walking into their room first thing in the morning and seeing how happy they are to see you? Sure, changing a diaper becomes tedious and annoying when you're doing it every couple of hours, but it's something you're going to end up spending a little chunk of your life doing. Why not document it? Especially if it's a stinky one. You know you and baby both make some fun faces for those! And the kids hanging on your legs while you're trying to cut vegetables for dinner...how cute is that? Annoying, yes, but also would make a super cute picture. And who doesn't love it when you're trying to sweep or vacuum and you've got a little one imitating you in the next room? I just think those are some great things to remember, and if not for the memory, to at least show your husband and child-less friends how much more work goes into "staying at home" with the kids than they think. ;) And then you can do it by just showing him beautiful pictures instead of what he may call nagging. Everybody wins.

I just think there are so many more precious moments and happenings that you can never recreate, and they don't happen naturally on that neat looking old cobblestone alley downtown where all the doors are painted different colors. Sorry.

Here are a few moments I've been lucky enough to capture with my little point and shoot, and tweak a little in Photoshop for fun. This is what I'm talking about though...I wish someone would just come to my house sometimes with a big fat fancy camera and snap these from better angles, and maybe even get me in the background so my kids will know I was around. That's the other thing...moms are never in the pictures! They're always behind the camera and it's not fair! Hmph. :(



Other dream jobs include: designing luxury treehouses/backyard forts or being a Pixar animator, but I think that requires some more schooling. Someday...