Family Snaps

So, what is the line between a family snap and a fine art print?

Today was my daughters 5th birthday and I snapped away merrily as she opened her gifts and had a whale of a time. But still I couldn't help myself, I put a wide angle lens on and shot up from the floor, I experimented with flash and with natural light, I missed a shot and asked her to pick the toy up again and look happy. What I didn't do was to sit back and relax and enjoy her happiness... I had planned to, but my wife asked for one picture and I was off.

So often on holiday, we stop the car to get a shot or we go to places because I know there will be something "worth" photographing and always, always, I am hoping to get the fine art shot that will make me proud of myself.

When I shake off the pretensious photographer/artist that lives in my head I feel guilty if I've just snapped a picture and often I'm too embarressed at the poor quality to ever show anyone the results. This worries me. Photography should be fun and I have started to resent taking record shots of family happy times because they are not artistic enough. What should I do?

Well, I have changed my workflow. I now take my art shots and save them as RAW, save the converted jpg and then save the processed image of the best ones - these go in my portfolio. The family snaps are saved only to jpeg and go in a family album. By making a distinction and seperating my fields of photography I can relax and enjoy each style for what it is.

So, what IS the line between a family snap and a fine art print? In my book it's all to do with how much thought I put into the shot and ultimately which folder it ends up in on my PC.