Everything I'm about to say was already said, better, on this post at The Power of Moms. Reading that got me to thinking about my own habits of looking at blogs and Pinterest, and comparing myself (negatively) to the images I see there.
I've been blogging for six years now, and bloggers who blog about their personal lives get into the habit of taking pictures "for the blog".
It's no secret that blogs with lovely pictures get better traffic. And now there's Pinterest, to further feed our hunger for inspiring pictures.
But, I've never really become all that interested in photography as a hobby, and I'm also not too interested in taking the time to stage the background of my home to make a better picture. After all - if we aren't careful we start to think we have to live in a magazine spread every day of our lives.
I'm trying to live an intentional and thoughtful life, not a "pretty" one. But at the same time, I can find myself comparing my life to the pictures I see on other blogs and on Pinterest. So I spent a few hours playing "circus tent" with my kids. But wouldn't it have been more worth my time to make them a healthy snack that looked like a circus?
I cook my family dinner almost every night, but it's not photo-worthy. I clean and do the laundry and run the household - and none of that is going to make a lovely photo either.
How about you? Does searching for a lovely photo of your life ever detract from living your life?
I gave up trying for the pretty life a long time ago. It just isn't important. I would LOVE to see more of the messy. To me, that means you are living not staging.
ReplyDeleteWith my first go-round at blogging, yes. And I didn't like what it did to me. This time around, I take pictures of things that I like, but not with a particular post in mind (with the exception of SkyWatch Friday). I file my favorite pictures in a folder and use them whenever, however. Sometimes they match my post, sometimes not. The staged blogs hit me the wrong way... I don't care for them.
ReplyDelete