day 6 photo

Proudly presenting my first layout proving my point about photography- it is never bad. It is simply all about perspective, and finding the stories beneath the image. One theme over-riding this entire project is that each image was captured by my son as he learnt how to take photos. However, as a general rule I am trying not to use that as proof that all photos have value. It is my 'get out of jail free' card!

Ted snapped this photo of me last week while we were eating dinner. Now, for the most part, this is not a great photo. The exposure is bad, the angle is quite noticably off, I am feeding my face... Most of us would not bother spending the 19c to get this printed. BUT with a little bit of editing, turning it black and white and adding some journalling, a very average photo becomes...

The journalling reads: You snapped this pic while playing with your camera at the end of the day. It was such a busy day with your Dad away, but I was so happy to be enjoying an evening meal with you and Josie. You captured an unguarded moment of simple joy.

I thoroughly enjoyed scrapping this page.

Credits are to

Line Designs: Angels world

Natali: All you need is love

Randi Oh: Annabelle Alpha.

The font used is called Honey Script and I found it at dafont.com

End of week one

Ted has really been enjoying taking his photo each day. One thing that I did not expect to come out of this is the simple enjoyment of looking around and taking photos together. He is so excited when he sees his photo in the viewer, and has also learnt to scroll through his photos and loves to look through them, explaining everything he has photographed.

His day 3 photo is a little bit of a heart-breaker for me. When I discovered it, I wondered how many times he walks into the study to ask me something, and this is what he sees. Eye level with the desk, not being able to see the computer screen clearly, and Mummy working away. It really hit me, I had not thought about his world before I saw this image. Life at 105cms!

I absolutley could not pass up this shot. I love it. The only vegetable Ted will even contemplate eating is peas. So every night for goodness knows how long, he has eaten peas, cheese and toast for dinner. He really likes his peas.

I love the angle he has on them here, complete with spoon! And yes, he ate every last one!

Day Two's image

I began work on the first collection of photos today, and I just had to share the result. I absolutely love the goofy grin Josie has. She is just starting to pull this face when she sees a camera. I was able to lighten her face and add in a nice amount of colour, and by converting the photo from landscape to portrait, I removed Teddy's finger from across the lens.

Teddy picked this shot as his day three photo. His very favourite Big Red Car. He received this as a gift from a friend to celebrate him becoming a big brother when his little sister was born. The Big Red Car goes everywhere- through the garden, in the bath, to the pool.

Ted has just been out with his camera to take today's photo. I should point out that each day there are many many photos to choose from! Being three, he cannot stop at just one picture! It is great to see him so excited about it. Today he found an old Wiggles cloth sunglasses case, and he decided that it would be his very special camera bag. I am excited to see what he has captured today. Speaking of which, I had better find my own photo to take!

An ambitious project?

As scrap for hire specialists, one thing we often here is 'When I get some professional photos taken, I'd love to have them scrapped.' Louise and I are forever trying to convince those we are close to that any photos you may take- every memory, every snap, every crazy goofball face, is a picture with a story that is worth recording.

To date, we have had a hard time convincing others of this. And, to be fair, I can see their point. We both own pretty swish cameras. I have been taking photos with an SLR for over eight years now, and in that time I have read countless magazines and books, practising every new technique. Louise came to photography about two years ago, and has spent alot of time learning about angles and lighting, borrowing many of my books and magazines! Together, we have scrapbooked hundreds, if not thousands of images. In short, people do not really believe us when we say 'every photo has value.'

And so, I thought of a way to proove our point. This year, I am undertaking project 365, to make sure that I do not neglect to scrap my own family as I work on a business helping others to preserve their own stories. So, I decided it would be fun to have my three and a half year old son join me in my project. He will not be using my SLR (my heart couldn't take the pressure). He will be using a sony cyber-shot, 7.2 megapixel that has been through more drops and knocks than Mike Tyson. Alongside me, he will photograph soething that he sees in his day. Something that is part of his life and his story. Our challenge is to scrap that story- to put our claims of scrapbooking greatness on the line- and to make his photos look good. And to start, here is his photo from day 2 (we missed day one- whoops!)