The Photos You’ll Be Glad You Took

Karen Shayler
2 days ago
3 min read

We’re pretty good about taking pictures when something big happens. A new puppy comes home. You bring home a new horse. The kids have a big show. Somebody wins something. There’s a birthday, a graduation, or one of those moments when everyone knows to pull out a phone and take a picture.

But I’m not sure those are always the photographs we end up loving the most.

Sometimes it’s the ordinary ones. The horse standing at the gate waiting for you. The dog asleep upside down on the couch with absolutely no dignity left. The kid sitting on a bucket in the barn after a long day at a show. The old cow who has been around so long that she’s basically part of the scenery.

At the time, none of it seems particularly important.

It’s just life.

And I think that’s exactly why we forget to photograph it.

We always think there will be another day to do it. Another spring when the grass is greener. Another time when the horse is clean. Another day when the dog has been groomed and the barn aisle doesn’t have three wheelbarrows and a feed sack sitting in the background.

And, of course, there usually is another day.

But things have a funny way of changing while we aren’t paying attention.

That puppy turns into the old dog sleeping at your feet. The young horse you were just starting becomes the one who has carried you through more miles than you can count. Kids grow up. Horses retire. The old barn gets replaced. Even the way a place looks changes over the years.

Then one day you find an old photograph and spend ten minutes looking at everything in it except whatever you originally took the picture of.

I forgot about that saddle.

Look how young he was.

Remember that old fence?

Oh my gosh, look at my hair.

And somehow those little details take you right back there.

That’s the part I think we sometimes miss when we talk about photography.

It isn’t always about creating the perfect photograph. Sometimes it’s just about remembering what life looked like.

And while we’re talking about it, get in some of the pictures.

I know. I know.

A lot of us would rather not.

Just photograph the horse.

Just get the dog.

Nobody needs to see me today.

Maybe after I lose a few pounds. Maybe when I have something better to wear. Maybe when my hair cooperates.

There will always be a reason.

But your horse doesn’t care what size jeans you’re wearing. Your dog certainly doesn’t care what your hair looks like. And years from now, I’m willing to bet those aren’t the things you’re going to notice either.

You’re going to notice the way your horse was looking at you. You’re going to remember exactly how your dog leaned against your leg. You’re going to see the two of you together during a part of your life that you didn’t realize you’d someday miss.

So take the picture.

And I don’t just mean hire a photographer.

Use your phone.

Take the blurry picture when the dog is doing something ridiculous. Photograph the horse covered in mud. Get the kids sitting around the barn doing absolutely nothing important. Take pictures of the tack room, the old trailer, the pasture and the things you see every single day.

And every now and then, hand the phone to somebody else. Get in the picture.

Professional photographs have their place. They give us the opportunity to slow everything down for a little while and intentionally create something worth keeping.

But the snapshots matter, too.

The big moments matter.

And the ordinary ones definitely matter.

You don’t have to wait until everything is perfect, because life rarely is. Sometimes you just need to take the picture. Because years from now, the photograph you’re most glad you have might not be from the championship, the birthday, or the perfectly planned day.

It might just be the one that reminds you exactly what an ordinary Tuesday used to look like.