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6.07.2012

TIPS FOR DIY FAMILY PHOTOS

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there. Stay tuned for more details!


i love this photo. my beautiful friend kaitlyn took it for us when huck was just five weeks old. we were lucky enough to snag a slot with her and we even had the baby in time and they were our first real family photos. mama, daddy, baby. they came out real good. 

since then we've been supremely blessed with many many many opportunities to have professionals take family photos for us, but sometimes it's fun to take our own, selfie style. i like the haphazard way they look, the funky angles, the bad focus. i love the stories they tell, and the out-of-the-ordinary way they came to be. here are a few of our favorite DIY family photos. hopefully they'll inspire some lazy, impromptu family photos of your own. 





the series. it's impossible to get all of you in one shot when one of you is always behind the camera. we usually try to trade off and get a few incomplete family photos that, when put together, tell a cute little family story. and look at how fat that huck was. i forget how pudgy that tummy was. 


the self timer. i love self-timer photos. they are so cheesy. we have about fifty variations of this photo, with either a dog head clouding the shot, or someone blinking, or the camera was crooked, or i was too blurry because i couldn't get back to the bed in time . . . somewhere around the twentieth shot huck lost a sock under the covers. peter pan refused to pose without his stuffed cow. brandon has lazy saturday morning hair. i wouldn't have this photo any other way. 


the mirror selfie. i hate that word, selfie. but i am a huge fan of self portraits, i don't get the bad rap they get. this is my philosophy: see a mirror? take a photo. spur of the moment, in whatever you're wearing, about to do whatever it is you're about to be doing. don't give it too much thought, just do it. this is one of my all-time favorite stupid photos. huck and his goofy parents. we were in the lobby of our building on 69th street, about to look at the apartment we'd eventually move into four months later. i remember we ended the afternoon at the playground on the swings. there was another girl there wearing overalls who, granted, was maybe three. brandon called me "old macdonald" all day long.  when i said, "quick, picture!" brandon instinctively stuck his bum out. the look on huck's face says it all. "oh brother." how can you not love a photo like this?


here's another one of my favorites. i'm so glad pooh bear made it into this shot, he was a big part of our family for about a month or so. brandon was wearing our picnic blanket like that all day and for whatever reason it made me laugh all the way into the park. we were big into our netflix account at the time, deeply ensconced in a secret queue war. i'd put a romantic comedy at the top, and then somehow tron would make it's way home and i knew that brandon had been messing about with the priority order behind my back. one time i bumped a miley cyrus movie to the top to get back at him. surprisingly, that movie made me cry. these are the kind of bizarre details i'll remember the rest of my life when i look at this photo. and isn't that sort of nice?

the next disney baby post:
on sleeping (on not sleeping)

24 comments:

  1. I love this so much! There are so many great tips and baby Huck is the cutest thing in the world!

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  2. You know what I love most about candid DIY photos... the version of you you capture when no one else is around. love this.

    Nicole
    localsugarhawaii.com

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  3. I love this post! I wish I would remember to take pictures more often, but I feel like everyone is looking at me!

    www.accidentallybeautiful.com

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  4. Those chubby 8 month pics are the best. His face! Gah!

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  5. Lovely! And oh, those cheeks on him! That's gotta be one of the cutest baby face photos ever, what a cutie!

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  6. Oh my gosh. Your outfit in that last photo. Is amazing. Where is it from? You are so creative with your style, I love it! I would never think to put those patterns together! And your family is beyond adorable. Thanks for the photo tips!!

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  7. I love how you are so shameless with your photo taking...I need me some of that panache. You go Mama Natalie!
    ~Deirdre

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  8. I love all of these photos. You are doing a great job with these Disney series posts. They are so relatable and fun to read. Then you add a little emotion in there an these babies turn into something great. Lovely lovely

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  9. AnonymousJune 07, 2012

    That photo of Huck in the middle...in his hat! He looks like Henry 8th!!! LOVE it.

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  10. that photo of mr. huck in the middle is SO prec. i love family photos that are natural and candid AND outdoors. there is something about the green grass and baby toes that just do it for me, i suppose.

    good post, nat!

    xo, amanda @ http://mamawatters.blogspot.com

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  11. This is amazing. All of it. I'm a HUGE fan of the timer shot. Have a blog category all dedicated to it and everything. :)

    xo!!

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  12. AnonymousJune 08, 2012

    how cute! that first picture of huck is adorable!!
    Treasure Tromp 

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  13. You ca never have enough family pictures, all those beautiful memories...

    Happy weekend x

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  14. It's funny that you wrote about this...because I was just looking up family, beach photographers for my upcoming trip to FL. However, now, I'm thinking we can just set-up the tripod on the middle of the beach, adjust the self-timer option, and pose. I have many family portraits that we've taken...and like you, I treasure them.

    Ya, we're definitely not going to hire anyone. I'm anxious to see what pictures we're going to end up with... :)

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  15. Those are the best pictures! Huck will love having them when he's older. xo.

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  16. Your photos are always so lovely, but these are some of the best! Thank you for sharing.

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  17. Love the photos you shared. That skirt you have on in the last one is awesome! I love your reflection/mirror shots on instagram, now I'm always on the lookout for a mirror to be like you. :)

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  18. AnonymousJune 08, 2012

    I love this post. We are planning on buying a remote for our camera, so we don't have to run back to be in the picture with the timer :)

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  19. i'm totally loving your disney posts! and i'm definitely looking forward to the sleeping post. my baby has never been a sleeper. only sometimes, maybe, if i'm lucky. ha!

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  20. This is great. I love the photo series idea. It means you don't have to be obsessive about getting everyone in the same shot. Fantastic.
    Lidia Lavonna

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  21. Oh I love reading your blog. So much family, so much love, so much amazing writing! So, so good. Can't wait to add a little baby to this family of two of mine. :)
    therichstyle.com

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  22. Henry is actually one of the cutest babies I have ever seen in my life. You all are such a beautiful family. Can't wait to read more posts!

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  23. AnonymousJune 11, 2012

    that first photo is the reason i started reading your blog. the pictures were done so well and y'all looked so cute! i loved your hair and your outfit and huck's hat... i was hooked. :)

    www.wewouldlovetoadopt.blogspot.com

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  24. either way you take the photos you and your little family are just the cutest! loving all of these photos, girl!
    xo TJ

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