The Family Photograph

I'm currently in the process of getting our family photo album of 2012 together (you know I'm obsessed with documenting, right?) and am realising how few photos we have of our family together. In fact there are very few photos with me in at all, mainly as I'm normally the person behind the camera.



Getting nice shots of us all is hard. Hugh took this with the camera at arms length. His height (6'4") brings the advantage of long arms with which to take self portraits.



I, rather bravely I think, submitted this photo (also taken at arms length by Hught) to the Dos Family Picture Tour. This is a shot I love, despite it not being the most flattering of any of us (Hugh is in his old DIY glases - oh and I do actually have a neck in real life) but this captured a moment of wonderful togetherness last summer, lying on our grass, just enjoying life.





We also occasionally put the timer on the camera... with mixed success.
Maybe the problem is that there is just something inherently CHEESY about family photos. I love the ones James at Bleubird does of her family. But then they could all be models and there is something we-are-trying-not-to-look-polished-but-really-we-are about them, don't you think? or am I being a bit enviously ungenerous there?
Above is a rare shot taken by someone else - I like this photo - but maybe that is because it's my family...  would this fall into my cheesy category if it was someone else's family? Harsh, I know.



I don't think this really counts as a family photo as Hugh only features below the knee but this image (from March 2011) sums up an era of our live, already fast disappearing. It's a typical weekend morning - the porridge pot on the table, the baby on the playmat, Coco busy playing and me with a towel on my head (and crocs - oh, the shame)!

So, this year I'm on a mission. I will get some nice photos of us together. Just need to think outside/upside-down/around the box about it.
Please share any tips or ideas...