Daily Shots

I think that a lot of the time that I think about taking pictures, of my son, wife, friends, dog, whatever, I always think of them as 'staged' or 'posed' shots.  Even if some of them come off fairly candid or off the cuff, I always try to plan them out and have my subjects act like they are candid shots.
I rarely take my camera and try to capture truly candid shots, of my son playing, of my wife sitting around or of the puppy just laying on the couch.  I'm always trying to think of a way to pose them to get better light, to use flashes to try to manipulate or shape the light more...I never really just shoot.

I'm trying to make it a goal of mine to try to get more candid shots.  It's not going to be long before my son grows up and doesn't want me shooting pictures of him.  I want to take advantage of the times that I have to capture a completely inquisitive mind playing with his toys or creating scenes in his head and acting them out on the furniture.  I want to try to capture those precious moments where he is in his own little world playing and having fun.  It's not very often that we get to really catch those moments, so I want to try to get as many as I can.

For these, I'm just going to rely on whatever lighting is available...be it natural light or the lights in our house and really focus on catching those moments that make my heart melt.  I'm not going to try to pose him to get better shots, or move things around to de-clutter the scene...I just want him to be himself, and try to catch/preserve as many memories as possible.

He is growing up so fast now.  I know it is cliche, but it really does seem like it was just a few months ago that we brought him home from the hospital.  Now, he's running around, climbing on everything possible, driving cars down his slide and trying to ride the dog.  Before I know it, these moments too will be gone and my little guy is going to be all grown up.

Let me know what you think.

T.