Making every second count

This weekend is going to be an eventful weekend. Between concerts and weddings, my granddaughter will be presented at church this weekend. She is my first grandchild and I can't be more proud of who my daughter has become as a mom and how precious my granddaughter Ellie is. Everywhere we go she steals hearts. She is a joy.

The only issue is that I can't capture the moments. People ask all the time why hire a photographer when I can use my iphone, or my point and shoot camera. Photographers have a skilled eye to pay attention to detail. The moment where mom is getting teary eyed, watching her daughter get married. The spastic look on a player's face when he hits a homerun for the first time. The point where dad is turning a little red in the face when he meets his baby girl or boy for the first time. Or mom's thrilled eyes when the baby takes her first steps. I actually had the priviledge of catching that once. A mom came in to take a birthday cake smash session and her daughter just got up and walked away from the set. I thought she had been walking all along but unbeknownst to me it was her first steps. I figured it out when her mom started crying.

These are the moments you dont stop to think... "wait I need to get my camera". Those are the moments where you live them and later wish you had captured it.

All that said, to pretty much complain that being the photographer for my special events I miss alot of the "living in the moment" moments.

Now that I have entered the wonderful world of grandma, I have to say i have a different outlook from the one I had as a mom. Mom's rush moments, Grandma's savor moments. I often look back at my kids photo albums and would you believe I'm not in alot of the photos. Im always the one behind the camera. So with my granddaughter I am making it a point to hire a photographer for special moments.

Birthdays, presentations, baptisms, first holidays and so much more. I want to live those moments and let someone hand me an album where I am in it, living the moments. Where I can reflect on my smile and say, I" was so happy", or "I was so proud," or "this picture says it all".... or even an occasional "was I mad here?"

Whatever the case I want to live it not tied to my camera phone or camera, but experiencing every moment and let it sink into my long term memory bank.

This is what I think of when someone hires me to capture their special moments. Its why I enjoy it so much.

But of course with the craziness of this weekend I can't put my ZaiPhotography creativity into action. I needed to give our guest something this Sunday of our little Ellie, and what better than a picture.

Hope you enjoy.