I’ve been a professional photographer for over 20 years now, and I’m at this really wonderful point where I can look back on my career and experiences and see all of the various stages and styles that I’ve gone through. From soaking it all in at school, to my time as a photo journalist, to the early days of experimenting with portraiture and weddings, finding my unique strengths and style, and so much more.

So much of my life has been spent with a camera in my hand. At first I just wanted to be taking pictures all the time. Once we had kids I wanted to record our family every little moment, to capture their beautiful, sweet, authentic little selves.

I still love taking photos of my children, and have so much fun doing it. But at some point I realized that although we had beautiful images documenting everything our little family did, that sometimes meant that because I was so busy taking pictures, I wasn’t able to be fully present with my family, share the moments with them and really enjoy the things we were doing.

And so I’ve started to loosen my grip on the idea having every moment captured, and of the perfection of those images. I still bust out my camera for big events or super special things (and random everyday moments too), but I’m leaving my camera at home more and more often for the kids’ sports events and lots of our adventures.

At first, it was hard to deal with the FOMAS (fear of missing a shot). As time goes on it gets easier and easier and I find myself being able to truly enjoy everything about their events (and parenthood in general). I get to actually watch their games and cheer them on instead of trying to get the perfect shot. I get to enjoy time spent with my family and other parents and the camaraderie that comes with spending chilly mornings at the ice rink or driving long distances for gymnastics competitions, ski races and soccer games. Now, when I do decide to pick up my camera to capture moments in our lives, it feels like a fun treat instead of something I feel like I just have to do all the time. Simply the act of unplugging my photography brain and living in the moment has been a gift that I’ve given myself.

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword at times - having the ability to capture special moments, and at the same time not being able to fully engage with these special moments because you’re too busy trying to capture them. Our kids are growing up so fast, and I want to savor every moment of my time with them before they are grown-ups themselves!

As I’ve stepped away from constant capturing, I’ve been able to feel the gratitude of other parents taking photos and sending them to me, which is just so awesome! Not only do I get wonderful and candid memories of my daughters, but I also get to experience the flip side of the work I do every day - getting to have tangible momentos of moments in time that I’ll cherish forever!

Above are photos that others have snapped for me as well as photos I’ve taken quickly with my cell phone. All are a great reminder of what’s really important in a photo— the people we love!