SUMMER PHOTO INSPO

As my homepage states, photography is my love affair with life. And it’s true! With summer right around the corner, my mind is racing with ideas of what and how to capture our summer in a way that doesn’t actually interfere with our summer at all. In other words, Instead of interrupting the moments to ‘capture’ them (okay, now let’s all look here and smile!), I want to actually, well, capture the moments AS they’re unfolding.

I would love for you to join me in capturing your summer in a similar way! I’m going to keep it simple-I’ll make a list below and you can simply bookmark this page and refer to it whenever you need a little summer inspo! Want to level up? Grab this handy dandy printer + keep a journal full of all your summer fun!

• Shadows. Shadows are SO fun and easy to do on a sunny summer day! I love using it to capture my kids and I holding hands or a shadow group shot but you could also make shadows dance or jump for super fun shadow shots!
• Bubbles. MAN bubbles are one of my favorite summer activities to photograph. I love to jump right in front of the wand and let the bubbles practically fly to my camera..and I haven’t found a kiddo yet who doesn’t love blowing bubbles AT a grown up 😀
• Tug of War: Whenever I find a cool wall or downtown mural, I always ask my kiddos to jump in front of it for a photo-but instead of asking them to look and smile, I ask them to stand together, hold hands, and gently tug each other back and forth. Genuine smiles every time!
• Swimming: I’m known to dunk my iPhone into the water to grab underwater photos at the pool, but if that sounds a little too scary (and I don’t blame you if it does!) try photographing your kids while they’re IN or UNDER the water. From the surface you can still experiment with textures and fun blurry colors as they pop in and out of the water.
• Ice Cream: A favorite summer treat but don’t interrupt! Instead, tell them where you want them to sit. You can sit them close together, far apart, in bright sunshine or dappled shade…on a step or city stoop or maybe smack dab in the middle of the floor. Once they’re sitting where you’d like, let them eat and you snap away!
• Movement: I LOVE photographing movement because anything goes! Have your gal twirl in her dress, have your kiddos jump off the front porch and try to snap a photo of them in mid air (or while they’re jumping in the pool!), let them pretend to be their favorite superhero, whip their hair back and forth, run TO you from the swingset…if it’s movement, it’s going to be fun, messy, and most of all, memorable.
• Mundane: Every morning during the summer, the kids and I take a walk around our neighborhood. It’s one of my favorite summer traditions and I always make sure to capture lots of photos from our walks. Try different angles-photos from behind the kids, pointing my camera at the ground but flipping to activate the front camera to shoot straight up at us, allowing a flower to act as the focal point as my kids walk away and fade out of focus…make something that feels mundane look magical!
• The ‘Right Before’: If the kids and I are headed out on an adventure, I try to grab a quick photo RIGHT BEFORE the actual adventure begins. Not necessarily a look and smile next to the bike trail sign (or wherever you’re adventuring to), but instead, a photo of the kids right before they pull away for the bike ride. In the photo below, I simply asked my girls ‘are you ready?’ and they both turned to look at me and that’s when I snapped the photo.
• The Selfie With Your Kids: Get in there, mama! It’s no secret that I love jumping in photos with my kids but sometimes, even I forget. So here’s your reminder to let your kids cram on top of you like a dogpile and snap a quick photo.
• Silly Portraits: There is a cinder block wall at our neighborhood pool with THE yummiest light and every summer I take individual photos of my kids there before a swim. I allow them to do something silly like slide their sunglasses (or googles) on while I’m taking the photo, wear my big sunhat on their little head, or simply shake their head yes and no while I snap away. I love to activate portrait mode for this and just capture a silly little slice of their summer selves.

So there you have it! 10 little bits of inspo to jumpstart your summer photo bucket list! I’d love to see your summer photos so please tag me in them when you share! Or if you’re taking a break from socials for the summer, I’d love a little summer bliss from you in my inbox 🙂 Now, ready, set, SUMMER!