Why You Need To Be Taking More Photos

This post was sponsored by Blurb. All content is my own.

Pictures are a way to tell our stories, capture memories, and give us inspiration. There are many reasons why you need to be taking more photos, of anything and everything, no photograph is ever wasted.

I love photography; I’ve always loved photography. I’ve told you numerous times on this blog that before I became consumed with food photography, I used to be all about nature and architecture photography. Four years of photography classes in high school and spending my weekends finding random locations in New Jersey to take new shots. Then college and turning this blog into a business happened. My photography hobby fell to the wayside and the only photos I did (and do) take are for my recipes. To say that I’ve missed just taking out my camera and driving around to find a new location to just shoot and get creative is an understatment. I’ve made a promise to myself that for 2017 (when the weather gets warmer) I plan on going on my old photo adventures once again to rekindle my long lost hobby.

The thing about taking photos is that you get to capture an interpretation of an object, a person, an environment, a moment in time that can be saved, enjoyed, shared, and reflected upon forever and by anyone. As I was looking through my old photos I’d taken years ago, I noticed that each on evoked a different feeling, a different memory, and a strong inspirational desire to go grab my camera that very moment. I quickly was drawn to my favorite photos that I remembered loving back then, but also had to chuckle at some of these others. No photo is ever wasted. Even the “not so great” ones provide a smile, silly memories, and a perspective on growth.

One thing I regret and won’t ever be able to fix, is the lapse in photos I have of my family. We have tons of pictures as kids, but once I was in my tween-teen years and beyond, the amount of “people” photos that were taken in my family drastically lapsed. I always had a strong desire to take portraits and candid shots of my family, but I either just lived in the moment (during events and holidays) or people just didn’t want their photo taken. Those are not excuses and with “no photograph taken is ever wasted”, this makes me so sad. I want to capture the beautiful inspiration and memories that I’ve done with my other photography with my family and the people around me. We all need to be taking more photos. No photo is ever wasted (even selfies). Yes, we should live and experience the moments in our lives, but we should also capture those feelings, the smiles and laughs, tears and anger, in photographs too. I’m making another promise to myself (and I hope you follow too) to not only rekindle my hobby with my old photography subjects, but also with the people and simple everyday moments around me.

To keep my newfound motivation and inspiration going, I decided to create a photo book on Blurb.com, an independent, creative book-making platform online. I uploaded all my favorite photos, picked out the template I wanted and used their book-making tools to craft exactly how I wanted my photo book to look. I loved being able to choose everything, from the paper to size of the photos on each page. Once I finished and placed my order, I was so excited to receive it. Now I have a beautiful coffee table photo book of my own photographs that I can pull out whenever I want or need that spark of inspiration!

Once we all start taking more photos, I think creating a beautiful custom-made photo book to put them in is just the thing. They’d make for stunning gifts too! You can create your own on Blurb and use my discount code: STRENGTHSUNSHINE for 25% off*. So join me in my mission to take more photos and then craft them into stunning books we can share for years to come!

So tell me:

+ Do you take a lot of photos of your loved ones or are you lacking in that area too?

*Offer valid through May 15, 2017 (11:59 p.m. local time). Valid only for photo books uploaded to and purchased through your own account. A 25% discount is applied toward your product total with no minimum or maximum order amount. This offer is good for five uses, and cannot be used for digital purchases or combined with volume discounts, custom orders, other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.

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