Every family has a photographer.
The maker of the memories; the keeper of the culture.
And though it’s not the case in ALL families, I know that in many families it’s the mom.
The pressure’s high. I get it.
I’ve got a big, nice camera and I love it. And so when we head out to do something fun, I pack it up and carry it around and try to capture the outing well enough to make sure our memories are accurately reflected in the photobook I will finally get around to putting together approximately 4 years from now.
{I may be a teeny bit behind.}
As fun as using it can be, though, I’ll freely admit that it can also be a pain. It’s extra gear that takes up space, it’s heavy, and it may have knocked one of my kids in the face a time or two as it hung on my hip and I bent down to pick them up.
{Oops.}
Additionally, it’s extra effort to get the great shot that isn’t dark or isn’t blurry…and even more effort to upload, process, and organize them once you get home.
I know why we put ourselves through this in spite of the work. We play photographer to capture memories.
But ironically, studies have shown that our memories are significantly diminished when we use a camera to document events.
Part of the reason is because when we use a camera, we aren’t fully engaged, experiencing the event through a device rather than full-on with our whole selves. The other reason is because psychologically, we rely on the camera to preserve the memory for us, so our brains don’t make as strong of an imprint of the event.
And just from personal experience, I know there are a million times I have missed small, sweet moments because I was too distracted trying to capture a bigger one.
The memories I capture with my camera are incomplete.
A few weeks ago I took my kids blueberry picking. Before we headed out, I opened the closet to pull out the camera. Then I shut it.
In that moment I decided to just have a day where the memories we made were nobody’s but ours, and existed nowhere but in our own minds. I decided that I wanted to be fully present that day, not worried about my camera, or whether I got a good shot, or whether I’d have something nice to upload to Facebook later.
So off we went, and as we walked through the rows I held both my kids’ hands since mine were unencumbered. I laughed when my son did something silly rather than try to capture the moment through a lens. And I squeezed and tickled my daughter as she stuffed more berries into her belly than into her bucket.
I remember that day more vividly than a lot of the other things we’ve done this summer. And while I did snap exactly three cell phone photos for the sole purpose of showing my husband what we were up to that day, I don’t regret not having more.
Not one bit.
Now, in all honesty, the camera won’t stay in the closet for the rest of the summer. Because truly, I do love it.
But I also love making those undistracted, long-lasting, deep-reaching memories with my kids once in awhile, too.
I think I see a few more days like that in our future.
So mama, I encourage you to give yourself grace to do the same a time or two during these final weeks of summer. Leave the house with free hands and an undistracted mind, and just make memories.
Not pictures.
