Get the Picture?

I. Love. Pictures!!!!

If you don't know me, and/or have never been to my house, this is new information. If, however, you have been to my house, you've probably already figured this out.

I have pictures on almost every wall. The only ones that don't have pictures are the ones that are already filled up with windows, cupboards, bookshelves, etc.

I don't know if it's my love of pictures that first got me interested in photography, or if it was the other way around. I don't remember taking a ton of pictures as a kid, but I don't remember putting up a ton of pictures, either.

To my best recollection, it started in college. This was back before digital cameras were a thing. My friends and I would go out to a park in our cutest clothes with a camera loaded with black and white film. To this day, nothing is quite as pretty to me as a picture taken with real black and white film. It's possible to recreate the effect with digital pictures via Photoshop or some other editor, but it's not the same. There's something about real film pictures in black and white that is just uniquely beautiful.

We would come up with fun poses and snap pictures until the film ran out. Then I would take the film and get it printed. It was always a surprise to see how the pictures turned out.
Those days were pretty fun, and I got a lot of surprisingly good pictures. But then we entered the digital age.

When Evie was born, my aunt gave me my first digital camera as a gift. At first I was skeptical, because (in case I haven't made this clear), I really love black and white film. But as much as I liked the real film look when it came to black and white, there's really nothing so wonderful as a digital camera.

With a digital camera, you can actually SEE the pictures!!! You can tell if people are blinking, and redo the shot! You can see how the lighting is coming across and adjust it! You can take hundreds of pictures if you like, just to get one that makes you look fantastic! And you only print or post the ones you actually want!

That's my secret, by the way. People tell me I'm photogenic, but it's really that I take tons of pictures and only post the really good ones. ;)

My whole family!

Digital cameras are fabulous. And I'm lucky to have a daughter who actually enjoys having her picture taken! Even when she was a baby, she would smile for the camera. She even has a whole repertoire of "model" poses that she comes up with entirely on her own. She's a natural.

By the time I got my digital camera, there were already quite a few pictures on our walls. I had put up engagement pictures, wedding pictures, fun pictures from when we were newlyweds, all sorts of stuff. I wanted to decorate my home, and pictures were my preferred decor.

But once that beautiful little supermodel was born, I went crazy. Pictures everywhere! And it hasn't really slowed down since.

I've gotten fairly good at basic Photoshop, and I've always had a good eye for poses and framing. Because of that, I've been able to make a little bit of extra money taking pictures for people. It's not a lot of money by any means, but I really enjoy it. And people seem to like my pictures! I even have a Facebook page for my photography (Cassie's Photography) and a photography blog to promote my "business" (chocolateypics.blogspot.com).

And the pictures in my home have gotten more fun, creative, and aesthetically pleasing. I take new ones every year, and let me tell you, updating my pictures is a process! I just got my new batch the other day, but I haven't put them up yet, because with so many frames in my house, it's a pretty big job. To be fair, I don't change all of them, but I change enough on a yearly basis that it's still pretty intimidating.

This is a gag picture of my brothers and I. It makes me laugh. :)

But I love it. I love that I can sit at home and be surrounded by my beautiful family. I'm proud when I'm able to capture their personalities, their beauty, and their quirks on film. It makes me happy when people come over and spend time looking at the pictures. Because they're not just looking at people, they're looking at what, to me, is the very best kind of art.

I'm grateful to live in an age where pictures are not only possible, they're available to anyone who wants them. Anyone can pick up a camera and capture their family, their vacation, a beautiful landscape, or anything else they want to remember. And I'm grateful to live in a time of digital cameras! I love that I can take lots of pictures, pick the best ones, and make them even more beautiful on my computer.

And more than anything, I'm thankful that I can surround myself with pictures of my beautiful family in my very own home. It means I will always be able to remember their faces, and the wonderful times we have together.

My two greatest loves!