Letter 69: The Little Things
When we get time to hold still
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I’ve always been in awe of artists. Painters, musicians, photographers—you name it—I’m always blown away, mainly because I’m unable to create in the ways that they do. That’s why I’m so thankful to share my friend, Jennifer, here in this space. A longtime admirer of her eye and work (it’s hanging all over my house!), I’m often overwhelmed by how she has captured my boys and our family through her lens. I loved hearing Jennifer put her work into words and what it means in today’s letter.
As a photographer, Jennifer has such a special place in a family’s world: She gets to capture those moments in time that may seem so hard or so new and hold them still for eternity. Our weekly letters are for honoring all the ways brave women live, work, and reflect in this ever-changing world and I know Jennifer’s passion and art will buoy you in just the way it does me. —Molly
(Announcing a brand new feature for our weekly letters: an AUDIO version of the newsletter, read by the author! If you’d prefer to listen to the day’s newsletter, click play in the embedded link at the top of the letter.)
Click play to hear Jennifer read today’s letter.
“Photography is a way of feeling, touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
Aaron Siskind
I was at my son’s basketball game the other day taking photos of him playing when an older gentleman next to me said, “I just got done throwing away a lot of photographs.”
Then a few weeks later, I had a friend tell me that she posts all her daily photos of her son to Facebook because it is her way of preserving her memories and being reminded of photos years later.
Their comments got me thinking, what photographs are my kids going to have to throw away? Are digital photographs the new norm? Will the digital footprint that we create be around when our kids grow up or will they even care to scroll through years and years of posts? Or are we saving our kids from having to throw away boxes and boxes of photographs?
A little background on me: I grew up in the non-internet, non-digital age, and really had no interest in photography until I had the first of my three sons—eleven years ago. I was enamored with my new baby boy and everything about him and knew I wanted to capture all those moments that I may someday forget. I was a CPA at the time and thought the only way to take those kinds of photographs was to purchase a top-of-the-line camera and let it do the work. I was wrong. It took me about a year to realize that the camera did not make the photographer.
I was unhappy with the results I was getting and decided to dive head first into as many online courses I could find, teaching myself the ins and outs of my camera, the exposure triangle, and the importance of light and composition, all while keeping my full-time job. What started as an obsession to remember my own family moments in an artful way, quickly (and quite unexpectedly) turned into photographing friends, and then other families, and then to my surprise a part-time business.
Seven years later, I left my career in accounting and jumped into photography full-time.
Finding this passion has been the best thing for me personally and I believe has made me a better mom. I’m more willing to go on an adventure, let them take a bubble bath in the middle of the day, or be covered head to toe in mud from jumping in rain puddles, all so that I can take a photo or two to practice my skills and document the moment.
But all these years into photography and I still wonder, if in a world of digital images and social media where all of our lives seem to be kept on our mobile devices, the internet, and our computers, will future generations even have photographs to throw away? I am the first to admit that I am bad about printing all my photos, mainly because I take so many; however, I do make it a point to display my photos around my home and I also print albums: some are yearly collections, some are from certain vacations or seasons in life. Albums are always what my children gravitate towards looking at over and over again.
My advice (and because I get asked about this often) having been in business and taking photos of my own family for over eleven years, is not only to take the photos but to print those photos. Someday, those photos that are important to you very well may be important to them!
And, remember to get in the photo! Your child doesn’t care if you have a messy bun and no makeup, or need to lose weight, or don’t like your outfit! They will want to look back and see you were in on the action too and not just behind the camera. And I don’t mean print only professional pictures or birthday party photos, but the everyday photos! The ones of them drinking from a bottle, the ones when they slept in their crib for the last time, the ones of them playing their favorite sport, the ones of them giving you kisses. The ones that pull on your heartstrings.
I read a quote once from Aaron Siskind, “Photography is a way of feeling, touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” I come back to this quote as inspiration when I feel like maybe my work isn’t good enough or that I’ve taken a portrait of my son’s face a million times. It truly is my “why” and I hope the photographs I take, whether digital or printed, will be something for myself and future generations to look back on and remember that moment, that feeling or that time in their lives.
And just in case you are curious, from a photographer’s perspective, here are a few of my favorite places to print or display photos:
Artifact Uprising—amazing quality products and unique paper prints at a reasonable price
Mpix—prints and canvases
Chatbooks—low-cost albums your children can look through that can be printed automatically from your social media feed or camera roll
Smallwoods—outstanding large print photos simply framed and at a great price point
Polaroid Digital frame (Target)—upload digital images to the frame via their app from wherever you are. This is the perfect gift to send to grandparents or in your home if you want to display photos you take regularly without printing.
Jennifer’s Five Favorite Things
I have these shorts in almost every color. They are comfortable, lightweight, have an elastic waistband, and are a bit more dressy than running shorts.
These ManiMe gel stick-on nails are my go-to manicure. They are made to fit your nails: no cutting, shaping, or drying and they last for almost 2 weeks!
This bag is waterproof and washable and it goes with me everywhere. Baseball games, the beach, you name it.
My husband surprised me with this necklace as a Christmas present; I haven’t taken it off since! I have each of my kids’ initials.
This lotion might seem like a simple thing but it has really changed my dry skin!
With gratitude,
Jennifer Saltsman
P.S. When creativity is at the core, the smallest of daily habits can change everything and fire in our hearts.