A note to your future self . . . 

Don’t worry at not ONE point in this blog post will I ask you to actually ‘write a note to your future self’. You can stay with me and be assured that I’m holding back on the cheese just this once ;-). 

I’m guessing (if your anything like me) you made a million resolutions in January, stuck to them for what . . . a day (Nutri-bullet I promise I will use you again . . . promise). Very soon after that it became February and now it’s blinking March!! Needless to say I am not the meditating, green juicing yogi I envisioned channelling in 2017. 

Never mind ay, I’ve got plenty of time to take up yoga and to fall in love with kale. So what did I do next?! Firstly, sharply disposed of the half eaten ‘Kit-Kat’ and then secondly decided March is for new resolutions. Resolutions that I will keep and most importantly that I can cherish in years to come. 

After all life is too short and I want to spend as much quality time with my two girls before they become hormonal teenagers with mood swings *cry face*!! Oh . . . If you’re reading this Mum I whole heartedly apologise for my “attitude problem” between the ages of 13 and 16 . . . I now realise my attitude did in fact stink. A blog for another time perhaps!!! 

My idea for my new and updated resolution came when I had the long and menial task of sorting through my backup drive. I realised that I have very little images of me with the kids…Ok yes I have a few of us on family outing for example me and Imogen in the hay field but not nearly enough to fill a photo album. I have such fond memories (and still do now) of flicking through our family photo albums. Mums fabulous bouffant 80’s hair do, dad’s lavishly loud printed shirts and myself and Maxine either posing, grimacing, eating (ice cream) and on the odd occasion smiling. 

Hats off to my Mum and Dad they really found the art of capturing the mayhem in the moment. Perhaps this is where my love for photography stems from or perhaps there was a lot of mayhem created by us crazy kids?! Either way, the photos tell stories, stories that even years later we will never forget. 

I want the same stories documented, not necessarily the staged occasion shots we all own. I want the everyday pictures documented. The tears, the giggles, the moments of exhaustion everything….ok maybe not everything …but most things. Of course I have a few obligatory selfies kicking around ...but hey who doesn't? It does generally worry me that my girls won't have many photographs of us together...Will they remember that I was the one taking them all and that back in the day cameras weren't on drones following our every move?! 

Technology has moved on sooooo much in the past twenty years and it saddens me that these days were more likely to have our favourite picture as our screen saver rather than in an album. Creating albums/updates on Facebook/Instagram is way more common than framing our chosen memory. Don’t get me wrong I am hugely guilty of the above and think both are great for documenting memories but I do think it is important to still print and keep photographs and to cherish that nostalgic feeling that flicking through an album gives . . . after all we spend enough time with our eyes and fingers glued to our phones . . Surely it’s time for a breather?! 

So a note to myself, my other half and all of you kind folk taking the time to read my blog, this year let’s make a conscious effort to take the pictures (of all the family) capture the mayhem in the moment, fill those blank walls with prints that one day we will treasure and forget. The moments that sometimes go unnoticed are just as beautiful as the moments we take time to document. 

And if taking photographs just isn’t your thing, then there is always the option of hiring a professional to do it (he he)!! 

Lots of Love 

Natasha

xxx