As a professional photographer and mother of three, Farrah Brannif knows what parents are looking for in the photographs they take. She also knows what stands in the way of obtaining those images. In Moments That Matter, she answers the questions parents ask most frequently about photographing their children and shares the techniques that will capture and share the unique story of their family life. Farrah recognizes that camera manuals are scary. Her accessible, step-by-step instructions follow the format of her popular workshops, include clear examples, and follow an intuitive progression. Here are simple, powerful tools that will transform the way parents imagine and take photographs. She covers both point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras and emphasizes that the equipment is not the secret to powerful photography. Each section includes practice instructions that will have readers producing the photographs of their dreams in no time.Introduction by Brene Brown, Author of New York Times #1 Bestseller Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead: I'm not very creative doesn't work. There's no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don't.The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. If these findings didn't emerge from my own research, I wouldn't have believed them. I spent my entire adult life being too busy strong arming the to-do list for creativity, art, or crafts. So, when I found that creativity is key to wholehearted living, I was inspired to make a change. I wanted to become a photographer.There was only one problem. I'm forgot how to be new at something. I forgot about that awkward, uncomfortable process that defines the gap between wanting to take pictures like the ones I see in the magazines and having no idea how to use my camera or set up a shot.Then I met Farrah. My husband actually set me up with her on a friend date. He's her pediatrician and, truthfully, I think he thought we shared the same work/balance anxiety so he recommended we meet for lunch. When I told her about my new foray into photography she offered to take on the challenge of teaching a not-good-at-being-new, creativity-fearful, and want-everything-to-be-perfect budding photographer.Farrah changed my life. Not only is she a gifted artist, she has a long teaching history AND she's a trained counselor. She can nail every party of the technical challenges, teach in way that makes it crystal clear, and she can talk you through the frustration and vulnerability that is the joy (and struggle) of making art.I wanted to take pictures of my children, my extended family, and the ordinary moments of my everyday life. I showed her both my favorite pictures from magazines and the pictures that I had taken over the years. She taught me composition by pointing out the differences between the photos I loved and the ones didn't quite capture what I was trying to capture.She taught me about complicated issues like aperture and light by making me practice with my son's transformers and shooting thousands of pictures next to every window in my house (and I'm not exaggerating). One of my favorite teaching moments happened one day when I was trying my new macro lens and I couldn't get anything to work right. I called her and she said, Go into your front yard, get on our stomach, aim your camera at the caterpillar on the leaf, and turn on your camera.I said, Okay, I'll call you back and let you know how it goes.She said, Nope, you're taking me with you. I'm staying on the phone.I'll never forget army-crawling through my flowerbed with my phone in one hand and my camera in the other.Dive into this book. Start anywhere. Take thousands of shots. Screw most of them up. Then find that one. No one can walk you through it like Farrah. She has the photography, teaching, and hand-holding skills to help us capture the moments that matter.
About the Author: Farrah Braniff began her career as a photographer on the side of the road when her father showed her how to take long exposure images of the night sky. While studying visual arts at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas, photography became her passion and the darkroom her sanctuary. After receiving her BFA in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute, she eventually returned to Texas, worked as a photography teacher, and opened her eponymous studio, where she specializes in capturing images that will hold their meaning through the years, bring back a flood of memories, and let the children featured in them know that they were loved. She teaches popular workshops in California and in Houston, where she lives with her husband and their three children, some of her best subjects.