Family photos.

{Photo credit:: Sara Ackermann}  

 I love taking pictures. I have a decent camera and can usually capture a mediocre shot and I just love have real, physical photographs of life. I'm not sure when it all started, but I do remember that each of us had our own photo album growing up. Two, actually. One that my mom kept up and another at my grandma's that she was in charge of. You know which ones I'm talking about, right? The large books with adhesive pages and a big plastic page protector you peeled back so you could line the photos up just so? I loved those things. My mom also has a handful of photo boxes that we loved to add to and look through when we were growing up. 

   As soon as digital photos became popular, I bought one of my own. And before Facebook let you post photos, I remember my college freshman friends and I would share Webshots albums with each other. But I always hated digital photos. How you can take so many great photos, but hardly anyone actually prints them anymore. And if they do, the physical photos are still sort of poor quality because photo printing has become so cheap, which is great for saving money, but terrible for quality. 

  Anyways, I love photos. Real, physical photos. When I came home from my semester in France, I immediately printed Every. Single. Photo I took while I was abroad. Then I bought myself 4 really, really large {and heavy!} albums to store those photos. 7 years later, and I am so glad I did! The computer I had those saved on has long died- if I hadn't printed them out I would have lost so many sweet shots from my travels. 

  Now that Caleb is around, I am trying to be more intentional than ever about taking and printing photos. I started a Project Life book for him {do you have a PL book? Let's chat!} and once a month I order a large set of prints from the past few weeks. Phone photos, DSLR photos, even professional shots. It doesn't cost me tons of money {so many online photo printers have regular deals!}, but I will love having those memories saved. 

   All that to say, I love photos. And I'm trying to be more intentional about them. That's why we had newborn ones taken right after Caleb was born. And why we had family shots taken this Fall. And why I keep my camera purposefully laying around the house so I can pick it up and capture everyday moments. My next goal is to learn to take better shots. By no means do I want to become a professional photography, but I want to be able to take beautiful photos of my family. There are so many online tutorials, but I think I need to find a friend to teach me {in person} how to make the most of my camera. 

  Do you love photos? What ways are you intentional with taking/printing/storing you photos? Any tips for me?