the hard part about being the camera hog is...

... I am never in any photos. I rule the camera at our house, if you can't tell. I always have my phone or slr within a hop's distance. I do this because I love capturing the actual moment, not trying to stage a moment that wasn't there or trying to re-enact it later when the glory has come and gone. So therefore, since I am the one with the huge emotional attachment to savoring each memory, I am kinda left out of the memory. This is fine by me for a couple reasons:

a. I am the worst camera poser. Every pose I do in the camera feels like that - a pose. I find it hard for me to act natural in front of the camera. But ya know, I think the reason for that has to do with the fact that I am always handling the camera and so if someone is taking my picture that means I have ASKED them to take my picture and therefore I can't all of the sudden go all natural and "hahaaha laugh" like that's the backstory of the photo when it's not. I asked to have my photo taken. So it has to be posed at that point. There's no alternative. This results in just a boring photo of me standing in front of bushes looking stagnate, in which I demand 50 more shots to be taken, all are awkward and I decide I should never turn my face into pixels again.

b. I am all about the angle and composition of the photo. I've asked Jared {see - asked} to take some photos of Ev and I and I'll look at them in review and say "um, could you try scooting in a little closer? and maybe stand on your tippy toes a bit and shoot downward? And try not to get that pole in the background?" I have this idea of how a photo should work and I get really frustrated when I have this vision and Jared doesn't have the "eye" for it {sorry dear!}. I'm not saying that I am an expert photographer by any means! I'm just particular.

c. I only look photo worthy when I am tan. And I'm not tan right now, so we'll hold off on photos til that comes about.

d. I'm fine being the camera hog because I get to be the artist capturing moments of love in action. And that's what a camera's for, right?

photo taken summer 2011 by my friend Amy on the Santa Monica Pier the week before we moved

Evelyn and I are departing this weekend for California! Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and encouragement to help us get through our travels there! So far we have a whole row to ourselves. We're praying it stays that way :)

Happy Friday!