Capture the Moment: The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life by Sarah Wilkerson
Amphoto Books, 2015
Becoming a parent seems to go hand in hand with becoming a budding amateur photographer (for those that aren't already). Children are so adorable, and they change so quickly. Digital photography is incredibly accessible these days, and there's pretty much no reason not to snap frame after frame.
From the first photo of E, swaddled like a little burrito and nestled in my arms after his incredible birth, I knew I wanted to document his childhood as best I could, both for his benefit and my own. He won't remember the giraffe wearing a party hat that adorned the cake on his first birthday. I won't remember what he looked like on Day 256, much as I might want to.
I've always had a fondness for photography, but the part I loved was always making prints, not so much actually taking photos. I don't necessarily have that eye for design, though I could literally spend hours in a darkroom, swishing chemicals around and watching an image appear like magic. So I'll take inspiration for actually taking photos wherever I can get it.
I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of Capture the Moment: The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life. More than anything, I want to make sure I'm capturing our everyday life. Portraits are great (and fortunately we have a great professional photographer to take care of that for us), but the messes, the routines, the best-loved toys-- that's the stuff I really want to remember.
Divided into 6 chapters (Natural Light, Composition, Storytelling, Fine Art, Black & White, Low Light), each explores a different technique. Tips like "feather your light" and "develop themes for your narrative" are illustrated with seriously gorgeous and inspiring photographs. Each chapter concludes with a handful of related creativity exercises to encourage the photographer to try something new. A brief technical guide is also included.
If you're looking to master using your camera on manual mode, this is not the book for you. While settings information is included for each of the examples, there's no explanation of why that works. It is, however, a very good book to use as inspiration for your own photos, and to help spark your creativity. Overall, I'd say it's a must-have for any parent interested in photography and memory keeping.
And! I have a copy of Capture the Moment to pass on to one of you. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
Beautiful!!!!
Posted by: cassidy ciazza | 04/20/2015 at 12:38 PM