4 Things You Should Be Taking More Pictures of in 2022
For the most part, we’re all pretty adept at filling up our phones’ photo albums and ensuring that the memory banks are always well-stocked, but, even with 24/7 access to a camera, there are plenty of moments that pass us by, and fail to meet the cut.
Being even more mindful about our photography means making the very most of the good stuff life has to offer, and taking advantage of all the benefits of taking more pictures, and documenting your everyday life.
So, with that in mind, here are just a few things we think you should be snapping as much as possible – and why you’ll thank us later for encouraging you to do so.
Family Gatherings
We’re not necessarily talking about the big, milestone family gatherings that happen a couple times a year – usually around the holiday season – where everyone is coordinated and gathered in front of an attractive, festive backdrop. Instead, we’re talking about the quiet Friday night dinners, the weekend hikes, the spontaneous game nights, and the lazy afternoons on the patio just as summer’s reaching its peak.
Throughout a single year, snapshots of those commonplace, run-of-the-mill family gatherings will start to create a beautiful, candid narrative of your lives together. These photos often tend to come out unforced, unposed, and even more natural than the pictures taken under the Christmas tree, or with the Easter Bunny.
And, once your digital stores start to fill up, you’ll be all set for every holiday, birthday, anniversary, or Mother’s/Father’s Day to come. Why? Because knowing how to print high-quality and highly personalised Google photo books straight from your digital albums means you will always have the kind of keep-it-forever present we’re all trying to track down for family.
Your Staycations
The rise of the staycation has, for many of us, opened our eyes to the incredible, hidden gems lying practically on our doorsteps. It has taught us quite how special the world can be, even if we don’t spend 5+ hours travelling halfway across the world just to appreciate it.
Still, old habits die hard, and some of us aren’t necessarily so inclined to take the same mountain of pictures we would usually take when faced with sights and opportunities that lie much further outside of our usual experiences.
We might get one shot of the Airbnb, another of the few from the window but, ultimately, it’s all too easy for these trips to go undocumented. Break the cycle for 2022, and endeavour to document every funny, inspiring, weird, and wonderful moments your next staycation brings.
Again, focus on the candid shots. Some of the best photos come about by accident, so don’t overthink it, or try to make every single photo you take IG ready.
“House Stuff”
From repainting a wall together to camping out in total disarray while you get that partition wall knocked down, leaning how to grout your own tiles, and getting worked up over an all-day wallpaper peeling session, we’re usually too caught-up in the chaos of doing house stuff to really appreciate how special these moments are. Still, there are plenty of reasons to document your renovation – starting with how hilarious your partner looks in a toolbelt.
More than that, there will come a time in the future when you wish you’d documented what the hallway looked like before you extended it, or how the fireplace was before you opened it back up again, or the state of the kitchen fittings when you first moved in.
There’s nothing quite like spending a quiet afternoon on the sofa, flicking through old photos from the time you had to cook dinner by the light of a headtorch, or sleep on a mattress in the middle of the living room.
Date Nights
In the early days of a relationship, it’s pretty normal for couples to routinely post a date night Instagram but, as the years go by, there’s a temptation to slip into the routine of it all, and to enjoy time together without documenting those special moments amidst the ups and downs of any given week.
We’re not saying that you should have ten years’ worth of couple selfies filling up your IG feed, but that, for your own collection, regularly documenting your date night looks – the changing backdrops of different restaurants and local hangouts – means that, one day, you’ll be able to look back and remember every milestone, every phase, and every style you went through.
Just like those puffy-sleeved, big-haired snaps of our parents in the 70s and 80s, your own pictures will tell a story worth going back to, time and time again.
