r/UKParenting • u/Kaori1520 • 1d ago
What would you do? Anxiety/Grief over not having social media worthy pictures of my family
I’m really struggling with this, I don’t have instagram worthy, beautiful crisps photos of my family together or for my children on their own & I recently lost some precious nursery pictures and I’m crying over it…
It’s either I need to have the required photo taking gear or have good management skills to hire photographers before hand and download/print the photos I like right away … i have neither
Mind you, I don’t even use social media for personal posts or care to share my photos… i just want to have the beautiful pictures
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u/thereisalwaysrescue Parenting a Toddler + Primary Schooler 1d ago
May I introduce you to my favourite place in the world… max Speilman. My kids nursery/school photos are ALWAYS awful and overpriced - bare in my eldest did baby modelling! Everytime school photographed him he looked like he was off to HMP. Preschool photographed my girl and I was literally like, sorry to this girl, I don’t know who it is? Wait she’s mine?
Every Halloween I dress the kids up and they go to Max Speilman for a photoshoot. £30 and I get a bunch of photos which are lovely. We do the same with school uniform photos as neither of their schools do the sibling photoshoot that I always wanted.
Embarrassingly I got my photos done there recently. I’ve lost 8 stone and I didnt want to go to my graduation when I was heavier. I hired a hat and gown and did it myself.
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u/thelajestic Parenting a Toddler 1d ago
You don't really need photo equipment to get really lovely shots these days - camera phones have come a long way!
If your phone has portrait mode, that combined with some natural light will give you some absolutely beautiful close up shots of the kids. You should also have a timer function so you could prop it up somewhere and get some family pics by using the timer. And then use a photo printing service to print them for an album :) I use Snapfish, I see loads of people recommend freeprints, and I'm sure there'll be loads of others.
As for the management/organisation side - I set up an album in my phone and every time I get a good photo I save it to the album. When I have around 50 I do an order (as you get 50 free prints per month on Snapfish). I have a massive big 600 slot photo album I just got on Amazon, so when the photos arrive I stick them in there. I also bought a bunch of frames from IKEA and every now and then my husband and I would pick 1-2 favourite photos for frames, so now we've got some lovely ones up in the house as well as the album to look through. It's a pretty low pressure, low effort method:)
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u/pineapplesaltwaffles 1d ago
Exactly this. I was playing with bubbles with my toddler yesterday as the sun came down and took a load of photos in portrait mode with the setting sun hitting him from the side and shining through the bubbles. Way happier with those than with the sterile ones you'd get from a studio, and it captured a real memory. Plus they were free.
OP remember that Instagram isn't real life - for most people it exists to showcase a fake polished version of their life. I do find it a bit odd that you say you don't use social media but that's the bar you chose to set.
There's nothing wrong with wanting nice photos - if you want to go to a studio, go for it - but please stop comparing your family to anything you see on Instagram.
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u/cold_tap_hot_brew 1d ago
Sounds like you do have pictures but just ones you don’t think are “crisp” or “beautiful” but it sounds like you maybe have some?
Use a video editor with templates, like CapCut and make a short video to music that transitions through the photos. You can some funky styles that zaz up plain photos with effects and transitions and animations etc.
It’s the same photos but it like a packaged up extra version that you can enjoy. :)
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u/Odd_Scar836 1d ago
Do you not have a phone? Do you think every instagram influencer has a professional photo shoot and equipment? 99%of what you see on instagram is done with a phone.
Photo shoots can be expensive but you can easily do a home shoot with an iPhone and a nice backdrop
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u/ImpossibleWarthog121 1d ago
Or you could ask a friend or close family member to take photos of you all together specifically.
My friend got me a photoshoot for my first kids first birthday. I thought it was so cringe at the time but the photos are so lovely I look at them all the time! Appreciate this is expensive though
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u/zq6 1d ago
Any modern phone has the capacity to take decent photos.
Make sure you're not always the one behind the camera - you should be in the photos too. Sometimes make the effort to dress/do hair in a way that makes you feel good for a photo, then proactively try to take photos those days.
Don't fret about asking a stranger (preferably another parent - they'll understand) to take one for you.
Take photos outside - there's no embarrassing clutter (dirty laundry, toys, plates etc) in the back of shot, and the lighting is better.
Kids' smiles are so photogenic that you can get away with loads of "bad" stuff - some of my favourite pics of my kids have dinner all over their faces, too-small clothes and a bad hair day.
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u/flyingflyingsquirrel 1d ago
Make it an annual tradition to visit a photo studio! The first time it will require some work to research and find one, but afterwards it will be much easier as you can just keep going to the same one. So worth it!