given not taken

kellen
Originally uploaded by mainemomma2007

today's post at Shutter Sisters i think is beautiful for all moms who hold a camera.

""Photogenic" is nothing more or less than a measure of the soul's aperture. Children are so photogenic (and so vulnerable) because theirs is open wide. The difference between a photogenic adult and one who is not, is a difference of consent. You cannot "take" a beautiful picture of someone, it must be given.

Like a naturalist in the wilderness with her subjects, I have let my children become so accustomed to my camera, they no longer notice it as a mechanical object. It is an extension of their mother's eye, no more obtrusive to them than my eyeglasses. Just another tool Mom sometimes has to help her see. When its lens takes them in, it is my gaze they perceive and respond to, not the camera (and sometimes their response is to ignore).

Shooting them has become a form of caress, as natural as reaching out to brush bangs back from their eyes. I see my reach in the photos. There is nothing objective about them. "This is how I see you," is the caption written invisibly on every one. "This is how love sees you."
~Kyran Pittman {SS guest post}

i love her words, she gets it, and wrote how i feel about shooting my kids just perfectly. they no longer pose for my camera. it is just how i see them and how they see me. that makes a beautiful portrait.

thank you Kyran.