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Capturing Life

I received a free copy of this book, Your Family in Pictures, from bloggingforbooks.com for writing a review!

I received the book in the mail just today and got through the whole thing already. 

The author has an impressive resume.   She is a writer who has learned to tell stories through her photography.  Me Ra Koh has worked with Sony,  Nate Berkus (think Target and HGTV), and Disney. She also has a nationwide program called CONFIDENCE which provides workshops for women desiring to hone their photography skills.  ( I want to go! )

The book contains seven chapters: Setting Yourself Up for Success,  Developing a Photographer's Eye,  Everyday Life,  Holidays,  Family Portraits,  Tweens and Teens,  and Family Vacations & Travel.   In each chapter there are several subcategories.   For example,  the chapter on photographing teens includes how to do senior portraits,  graduation pictures,  performances,  and prom pictures.

Each subcategory includes an example picture and a recipe for creating something similar. It gives tips for when to shoot,  how to prep,  what to do if you are using a point and shoot or a DSLR, whether or not to use landscape or vertical,  and how to focus it.  

Overall I love the simplicity and straight forwardness of the book.  It is well organized and provides a lot of examples for inspiration.  I did learn a thing or two already and as hard as it is to put into practice, her motto of,  "You have to be willing to miss shots to get great shots" is spot on.   (Now let's see if I can do it! )

I really only have one critique and that is this: she uses a lot of photography language that was pretty much lost on me,  and I took a photography class in high school... even if that was over a decade ago.  She doesn't really explain what an ISO is or what an aperture setting does.   One might be able to glean from the context,  but I think a quick reference chart at the beginning would be helpful.

My other feedback isn't so much a critique since I know she has books written for capturing the first year and toddlers,  but this book really is for families with older children.   I was slightly disappointed since my family is young,  but this will be one I pull out in a few years when my two boys (now 2 years and 2 months) are interacting more.  I look forward to it and will practice what I can in the meantime!

This is a fun book that I think will inspire moms to capture memories more thoughtfully. 




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