The Magic That Happens When You Add in Family

I have always enjoyed gazing up at the myriad of stars and planets that grace our view of the heavens. I suppose it came naturally that I would want to capture the grandeur of the night sky in pictures.

When I began, I joined a group of photographers who had experience in this plus I searched the internet for the best techniques employed by the pros.

There was some variation on instructions, but almost everywhere I looked gave some semblance of this advice:

Shots of the night sky are a dime a dozen. Do something different to make your photo unique.

My daughter lived in an area devoid of light pollution, so I went to her house one night and enlisted the help of my willing grandsons. I positioned them on a fence, asked them to hold perfectly still for 30 seconds and took my shot. Then I posted in a few groups and emailed it to some pro friends asking how I could improve to get a better picture.

Their answers surprised me!

The very first response I received mentioned nothing about the mechanics of the shot or any suggestions on how to improve it. This same sentiment was echoed over and over again:

“Oh. . . I wish I had a photo like that of my three sons when they were younger!”

A retired professional photographer sent back this response: “When I saw the photo, I could think of a dozen photos I missed because I concentrated on what I thought was the subject and missed an even bigger photo which told a story.  The picture of the Milky Way is very good, adding the boys made it into a treasured photo.”

I’ve thought a lot about that. Not the picture part, but the adding-in-the-family part. What would I gain even if I became the very best at photography, but have left my family out of the picture?

How many times has someone in my family been just ‘out of frame’ in my focusing on my life or what I was doing, when all I had to do was include them?

At the end of our lives, I don’t think we’ll be ruminating on our great accomplishments, or whatever successes we have claimed in this world.

I believe we will mourn over lost or damaged relationships, celebrate the love we feel, and be ever so grateful for the times we have made our family the focus of our big picture.