I love images. I always have. I buy magazines, a lot, but never read them, I just look at the photos. When I was young, really young, I already ripped out beautiful photos out of  Elle Magazine I got from my stepmother, made collages and covered my bedroom walls with them. Most expensive on my wedding day? Yes, the photographer.

I always made a lot of photos, but didn’t do anything with all those images.
And then came Instagram.

I saw all these talented people make all these gorgeous photos.  And share them. More than one a day! I finally found a place to put al these photos I made (please people, Facebook is not the place to put your  entire holiday album!). It also triggered me to challenge myself, to see the world with different eyes. But there is a downside to Instagram. I never took out my real camera anymore. I settled for the ‘fast food photo’ for a long time. My amazing trip to LA last year? All Iphone photos.

Some people get jealous of possessions, I get jealous of beautiful photos. So when R was born, I wanted to make better photos. I dusted off my dslr and started using it again. I was shocked by the difference in quality! I fell in love all over again and started practicing, because yes, it’s a whole new ball game.

But what to do with all these photos? I don’t know why, but it seems like an unwritten rule you’re not allowed to post ‘real’ photos on Instagram. When I do, I lose followers. It’s not about numbers for me, but it always surprises me, because these are often the ones I’m most proud of. Thank god for Gray Benko and her #theclickproject, or all these amazing photographers who got together for “you are my wild“. They made it a bit more accepted to use your real camera, and yes, posting it! More importantly, they push me to get better, to practice like crazy so maybe, one day, I’ll be able to do what they do.

I love photos.  Taken with Iphone, real camera, I truly don’t care. Let’s not limit ourselves by rules. Let’s make beautiful photos, share them and be proud!

So Vie, we already wrote about how amazing we are at jumping on riding trains. You want to jump on and start our own 52 weeks project, making a portrait of our children every week? With your big girl camera? Let’s have fun and get better and better at this! I know you love it as much as I do.

XM