Dads, Please Take the Picture - A letter from every mom | Whitney Beth Photography
 

I've been stewing on this post for a while now, and with the amount of time everyone is spending at home these days, it seemed like the perfect time to sit down and write this out. 

Dear Dads, please take the picture. 

If you go through the photo albums and Instagram feeds you will see our life laid out from a mom's point of view. The kids playing sweetly (or not), fun vacations, birthdays, and even quiet moments. But one thing you will be hard pressed to find: photos of mom. In most cases, mom is behind the camera. Taking pictures, documenting the family's history, and the handful you can find are ones where the camera is handed off to someone to "document that she was there."

Don't just take the picture, capture the quiet, candid moments. 

I can't tell you the amount of pictures I have of Danny and the boys playing, sleeping, or doing something cute and totally oblivious to the fact that I snuck in and took a picture. The same goes for my Mom and the amount of pictures she has of my Dad with us kids. Whenever we get our chatbooks back and I am flipping through them to see the photos that Danny contributed, I can't tell you the utter joy I feel to find pictures he has taken of me with the kids. I can 100% promise you that your wife will feel the same.

With all this time we now find ourselves at home, everyone is thrown into everyone's schedules and you get a glimpse at what your spouse is doing all day long. This is the perfect time to document. Not only because of the pandemic, but because you get to see how your wife and children interact. Take the picture. 

You'll want to relive these memories of the "mundane" and "ordinary" - like when Jones and I fight over which song to have Alexa play while cooking in the kitchen. (given the chance Jones will always, and without fail, play, 'Go Go Power Rangers' and I will, without fail, try to change it to literally anything else) Take the picture. 

Don't announce your intentions, just take the picture. 

I can almost guarantee you have your phone on you. You're probably reading this on it right now.

Take the picture. 

Help tell the story of what an amazing mom your wife is through your eyes. Use this social distancing and quarantine time to document. There will never be a picture that I regret having had taken of me with my kids. It doesn't matter what I look like, I want to remember being there, in the thick of it. I want to be seen doing what I can for my kids. And if I look like death warmed over, no one has to see it. This is not a fashion show, not every picture has to be "Instagram worthy."

We have been given an amazing gift and luxury that we can stay home during this pandemic and have a camera at our fingertips at all times. You have a front row seat at seeing just how loving of a mom your wife is.

Show her you see it too. Please take the Picture.