They say that becoming a father changes a man; your responsibilities shift, and what was once considered a priority is no longer a concern. Well, I would say that's about right, but what I have noticed is that I want to document everything, from the littlest gesture to the family adventures and everything in-between.
While I used to use my phone to capture all of the 'mundane' stuff in our lives, now I find myself having a proper camera in my hand all the time. My phone is dead to me, and I'm thankful for that!
Becoming a parent is a massive achievement, while also being the scariest part of your life. It's not just you and your partner any more –you have a little person to take care of and nurture.
It also makes you look back at your own childhood and encourages you to dig out the old photo albums. While my own childhood is documented to a certain extent by my parents, I discovered that my photojournalist grandmother took more photos of me than my parents.
This made me want to document the whole process of my wife and I becoming parents and, of course, our child's life as they grow up to one day look back on fondly. Taking images on my phone to just sit there on the device or in the cloud wasn't an option for me – it had to be with a proper camera.
Some will say that a phone is easy, you just take the picture and you're not interrupting the moment. However, phones are computers these days and there is no escape in taking a photo and then deep-diving into social media, emails and so on.
With a proper camera, you are there with the intention just to take images, and that really is an "in-the-moment" experience. I've found that armed with my trusty Leica M-E and a 50mm lens (or my Leica M2 if I want to be artistic) I can capture everything my little one does, from eating breakfast to going out on adventures.
My system is to just take a few photos, carry on with the moment, and then take some more if needed – a perfect solution that works well in our household and makes sure that any device (including the camera) isn't getting in the way of enjoying every second.
But using a proper camera has made sure that all my images are in focus, have the desired effect I want at that moment in time, and most of all they are important moments captured in our child's life to enjoy, rather than a quick digital keepsake when taken on a phone and forgotten about later. I've done that many times, looking through my gallery and thinking "I forgot I took that", and I don't want that with any images of my daughter.
Using a proper camera has enabled me to capture extraordinary moments that my I, my wife and our daughter can share forever, and that's an incredible feeling. I agree that phones can be useful, and they do have their place, but it's certainly not a device that I'm using to capture important moments. The phone is dead, long live the camera!
