Brooke was Here

I am a mama of three beautiful little boys. I love them so much that I could burst. Nurturing their adventurous souls and taking pictures to document their boyhood is something that I am proud to do. In 10, 20, even 50 years from now, they will have albums upon albums of carefully selected pictures to relive the memories of being little boys in the wild. I even have beautiful candid pictures of my wonderful husband thrown in the mix. But guess who's not part of these pictures. Just guess.

It's me.

And it's not from a lack of trying. I try to be in the picture. Flattering selfies with my arm stretched out as far as it will go are impossible and when I ask my husband to snap a quick picture of me with the boys--he snaps one. Only one. Sometimes its alright. Sometimes i delete it immediately. Can I be in the picture with my eyes open AND distinction between my neck and all my chins? Please??

When it comes to getting all of us in the picture, it usually means asking a stranger to take it for us. My husband is amazing in so many ways, but his embarrassment when I approach a stranger to take a picture makes me want to fling him off the nearest pier. I roll my eyes, but his comfort zones are valid here, too. So usually we just do our best to squeeze all five of us in one of those long-arm selfies. It's never pretty. Most of the time we just do without.

Earlier this year I was looking for something unrelated to this topic on another blog and happened upon this post. Read it. Look at the photography. It's all stunning. The article is about how to take incredible pictures of yourself while traveling alone. This seems like it would have absolutely nothing to do with me. I am married with three kids five and under. I rarely get to go to the bathroom alone, much less Paris! Even still, the words in this post hit me right in the gut. I ugly cried through the entire post while my three and five-year-old boys stood across the room with concerned expressions. ("Is Mom okay? Are we in trouble?") Sami from At Home on Hudson was the inspiration I needed to GET IN THE PICTURE. But I did not have to settle for just any old picture. I could have beautiful pictures of myself with my family. She recommended purchasing a tripod and remote for a cellphone, which I did.

These are the pictures I took of myself with my boys. All I did was connect the shutter remote to my iPhone via Bluetooth, place my phone on the tripod, and haul my boys down to the creek. I simply told them to play, splash, and dance while I snapped photo after photo. Once we were all cleaned up I edited them right there on my iPhone. It was easy. The boys thought we were just having fun--and we were. Are they professional quality? No. Can you even see my face? No. Am I in them? Yes! I'm so proud of these pictures and will treasure them forever. They're beautiful. Proof that Brooke was here.