My initial motivation behind learning photography was simply to take better pictures of my family. This motivation has led me down a long path of learning and enlightenment and sparked a huge creative push in me. However with this, I have found that I struggle to capture those very ordinary moments that first inspired me. I find myself sometimes feeling like every picture should be one that I am artistically proud of as opposed to just capturing those special family moments that are going to fill me with nostalgic longing in years to come. So this year’s holiday, I gave myself permission to use my big camera as a point and shoot and capture those memories. Here are some tips for capturing your own precious family holiday memories:

1. Capture those firsts.
This holiday was full of firsts for my son: first flight, first time in an outdoor pool and swimming in the sea. I created a list of shots that I wanted to get before we left and although I didn’t stick to it rigidly, it gave me a useful checklist to work from. It also meant that once I had a shot I was much more inclined to do number 2 on my list:

2. Make sure and set aside days where you leave the camera at home and just spend time enjoying making the memories.
We visited the beach several times but I only took my camera once. I wanted to be able to enjoy my time without worrying about getting the shot or worrying about my equipment. I definitely missed out on some fab shots but those images are etched in my memory and I wouldn’t have traded that precious family time for any one of them.

3. Make sure you get in the shot.
Snap an image in the direction in which your handy assistant will be shooting, use this as a basis to adjust your settings then hand that camera over. I ask my assistant (usually my husband) to just snap lots of pics as I interact with my son and usually, one of them works out.

Embrace full sun shots. I pretty much never shoot in full sun at home but that isn’t really an option when you are on a ‘sunshine’ holiday unless you want to miss out on capturing lots of memories. Here are a few things that I keep in mind when shooting in full sun:
– If shooting when the sun is directly overhead, try and get your subject to tilt their head upwards to avoid harsh shadows under their eyes and nose;
– Hats, sunglasses, beach umbrellas can all help you create a more flattering portrait. Experiment with each.
– If your subject is having difficulty opening their eyes fully, ask them to close them and count to three before opening them wide and snap the image at this point.
– Just snap the picture. At the end of the day, capturing those memories is more important than whether or not they have shadows under their nose!

5. Try and set aside some time to shoot a little for yourself.
I managed to grab some time to myself when my son and husband were playing in the pool. Whilst they swam at one end, I used my camera to shoot pictures at the other end of the pool. Experiment with focus, different lenses and different exposures when personal shooting. I spent most of my personal shooting time on holiday taking pictures of the swimming pool, but it was worth it to me to finally get this shot on my second last day:

I also love to experiment with sunrise/sunset shots if my location allows.
Nothing takes me back to holiday quite like remembering the beautiful sunsets.

6. Consider what you will do with those family memories when you get back home.
Instead of just having them take up space on your computer, consider pulling them together into a photo book. This year I am collating all of our holiday images into a small, soft cover photo book that my toddler can look through.

Katrina Stewart – Guest Poster
Katrina Stewart lives in the north-east of Scotland with her husband and son who was the initial motivation behind her learning photography. As a passionate hobbyist who loves natural light photography, her work is heavily influenced by the weather conditions in Scotland. Oftentimes, this means embracing low light and black and white photography. Outwith photography, she loves to travel, in particular to South East Asia which she says is a dream photography destination.
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