You Capture–Reaching

I love reading Beth’s blog at I Should Be Folding Laundry.  Each week she posts the You Capture Photo Challenge.  I’m horrible about keeping up with the challenge and I have told myself that after the wedding I will be diligent about getting more challenges completed.  I feel that they really help me focus my eye and sharpen my skills as a photographer.

This week’s You Capture Challenge is REACHING.   I searched through my thousands of photos looking for something that said reaching…..and I realized–I’m not taking as many photos of my family!!!  Has going pro turned me into someone who doesn’t take my camera to every family event?  A friend told me that would happen and I didn’t believe her…yet her words have become true.

I found this photo of my youngest daughter:

I was out with my camera, wanting to capture my girls riding their bikes.  My little angel rolled her eyes at me and stuck out her hand yelling “No Mama, stop taking my picture!”  REALLY? Since when did little Miss America’s Next Top Model not want to ham it up for the camera.  She carried on like I was torturing her.  She was reaching out to grab my arm (because she knows better than to touch anything that says Canon!)   I put my camera down and went back into the house to eat a tub of ice cream and lick my wounds , I mean get dinner started.  Later on that evening she told me she didn’t want me taking pictures because her friends were out there. Ahh, peer pressure.  I didn’t think that I would start embarrassing my children for a few more years.

To me this photo is my baby’s way of reaching out to me for her independence.  She is reaching for some privacy, reaching for her time to be her on person–without Mama capturing every moment of her day.  And for those reasons I will always treasure this shot.