Hi everyone, Amy here and welcome back for another day of Back to School reflection!
I have a printable photo checklist for you, as well as some helpful tips, but first, let’s consider for a moment the role that we want photos to play in our Back to School memory keeping.
For me photos play a pretty big role in documenting our “Back-to-School Story.” And as a result I typically plan an extra half hour into our first day and have a small list of planned photos that I like to take each year.
Certain photographs I aim to take in the same spot so that I can effectively capture physical changes that occur from year to year.
These photos of my son were taken by our front door--the first one in 2012, then in 2013 and again this year. With a similar background in each photo, I think the differences really pop!
There are specific things I like to capture each year to show how my boys’ interests change over the years.
And I feel like my son's choice in shoes from year to year say a lot about his changing personality:
I've also tried to make a habit of documenting his first activity in class each year.
In 2012 my son's class did a quick art project together on Back to School Night and in 2013 my son's first activity as a Kindergartner was to write his name:
These are just a few of the photos that I take each year, but they've become an important part of capturing our "Back-to-School Story."
A Back-to-School Photo Checklist
Below is a photo checklist that you can download with plenty of ideas to help you visually record your “Back-to-School Story”. This is an all-encompassing list of which some of the photo ideas may not interest or apply to you, but this way there are enough ideas for everyone to find one or two to try out this year!
You can download the printable checklist here.
A Few Final Tips
In conclusion I'd like to leave with some final bits of advice to help you prepare for capturing those back to school memories.
- Think about getting haircuts and/or selecting outfits beforehand.
- To avoid showing up late for the first day, remember to plan time into your routine for photos or consider taking some of the photos on another day or possibly even after your kids return from their first day at school.
- Think outside of the box and try out different angles and perspectives.
- Get in close to record the details.
- Take time to sit back and capture the emotions associated with going back to school.
- Consider adjusting your camera’s ISO for indoor photos, this should help you to combat the unflattering effects of florescent lighting present in many schools.
- If the thought of dragging out your “big girl camera” and all of your equipment feels like too much of a hassle, consider using your trusty point and shoot or even your phone to capture a few back-to-school shots.
Join me tomorrow for lots of ideas and inspiration for piecing together your Back-to-School stories and photos on your scrapbook pages, I look forward to seeing you!