Friday, December 31, 2010

The Cardinal Rule of Family Photography

So the holiday season and the gobs of photos of my son I have taken over the last week made me think of some of the problems posed by combining babies and photography.

Sadly in the process of trying to document my baby's first year of life I have discovered a very sad fact. I will call it the cardinal rule of family photography.

The Cardinal Rule of Family Photography:
The more members of the family the lower the likelihood that all family members will look sane or normal or attractive in a photo.

Before I had my baby I looked passable in about 1/10 photos taken in which I was the only subject. According to me theory in order to calculate the likelihood that everyone in your family will look decent in your photo you must multiply the denominator by # of people in the photo. So for photos of myself and my son there is a 1/20 chance that we will both look good. For photos of myself, my husband, and my son there is only a 1/30 chance that we will all look good. I don't know how people with big families ever even get everyone facing the same way, much less looking halfway attractive. My solution: stick to photos in which my baby is the only subject (this also helps alleviate guilt about not losing the post-pregnancy weight fast enough!)

I have been an avid photographer for years, and I love my Canon EOS 20D. For anyone looking to add an addiction to their lives, buying an SLR is a good place to start. For those looking to invest in a good digital camera dpreview.com has great reviews to help you select a good SLR. At some point I want to invest in a new SLR. Do any readers have suggestions of cameras they love?

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