Capture those funny little moments that make you laugh forever

I'm not a great candid photographer or people photographer.  Over the years I think I've gotten better at it, but it's still not really my thing.  The nature of my photography is usually to take my time to frame and capture the shot I want and relax in the moment a bit.

That has to change when you have kids though.  This is the one area where I was forced to get better at capturing candid photos because kids are only young once and the time flies by.  These are the memories of a lifetime... 

I've tried to "spy" on the kids with my cameras as best as I can over the years and a lot of photos of them doing their thing and learning about life turn out to be simple snapshots.  And that's OK....not every photo needs to be a work of art.

I guess that's the point of this post.  I think a lot of people who get into photography (including me) occasionally start to take it a little too seriously in their quest to become "better", and then they start missing out on the little candid things in life.

This photo here is one of my all time favorite candid photos of my daughter.  We were in Disney World in the Animal Kingdom section of the park.  They have a nice little petting zoo there where the kids can go into a fenced in area and pet and brush a variety of goats, sheep, etc.

My daughter saw this little black goat and she followed him around the whole time we were in there.  The goat wanted nothing to do with Nicole.  Every time she got close to him, he quickly walked away to another part of the enclosure.  She was persistent though, and she slowly followed him around mumbling something like "Come here goat.  Don't run.  Come here goat".  It was very funny to watch...

Finally the moment hit.  It was almost like the goat said, "OK.  Fine.  If you're going to follow me around all day then let's get this over with".  Nicole saw him standing still and she bent over in front of him with her little butt sticking out....very slowly getting closer step by step until they were almost face to face.  They just stood there staring at each other....I don't think either of them knew what to do next.

SNAP!  Got it.  Every time I see this photo it makes me laugh.  It brings me back to that day like it was yesterday and I think about how much this simple candid photo perfectly expresses my daughter's personality.  She is endlessly curious, fun spirited, persistent, and very humorous.

If I was worried about choosing lenses, the composition of the shot, the lighting, the background, etc, then I would have missed this moment.  Sometimes you just have to snap and you end up with a better and more meaningful photo than you ever could have planned.

Photography can be as simple as that.  Quickly capturing a candid photo that will make you laugh for a lifetime...