20 Dec How Not To Drive Your Family Crazy Taking Holiday Snaps

Are you a snap happy mum? (our hands are up!). One mother shares her her tips and tricks on getting the best holiday photos without annoying the kids.

I love photography. Whenever we go on holidays or do something fun with our kids, I want to capture their sweet little faces and the fun they’re having. I love documenting them at different ages, and it’s extra nice to have photos to send the grandparents who live interstate.

Having being photo-obsessed for a number of years now, I’ve discovered the rest of my family is not as excited about photos as I am (fair enough), so if you’re like me and enjoy taking your camera out and about, here are my top tips on how not to drive your family insane.

Don’t take your camera everywhere
I know we just agreed we enjoy taking photos, but when you’re on holidays with your family you need to spend time enjoying yourself and relaxing, as well as taking photos. Plan to take your camera along to certain activities, and leave it behind for other parts of your trip.

Head out by yourself
Set aside time to head out by yourself to capture images of the scenery you’d like to record for the holiday — this might mean sneaking out at sunrise or going for ‘photo walks’ with your camera. Take images of the flowers, architecture, textures or people; anything that captures your eye. You don’t always have the time to stop and appreciate the details when you’re out and about with your kids, so make the time to enjoy and capture the quieter moments by yourself. This way you’ll have beautiful images that weren’t rushed and will add those extra details to help you remember the location, or to use for scrapbooking, blogging or creating photo albums.

Spend 10 minutes shooting, then put the camera away
If we’re doing something particularly fun I want to capture, I’ll let everyone know that for the first 10 minutes we’ll be taking photos, then I’ll pop the camera away so we can enjoy the rest of our time together. This way my family knows that if they sit still for a round of photos I’ll leave them in peace for the rest of the day, and I still have great photos without nagging or pestering for the kids to “Look at me… and smile”.

Sit back and go candid
It’s great capturing images of the kids playing and having fun, and there’s nothing sweeter than candid images taken when the kids don’t even know I’m shooting.  This is best achieved if you have a longer zoom lens, and you can sit back on the shore of the beach or by the side of the pool and let them play.

Set up a ‘shoot’
If I know that I want a really great family photo in our holiday location, I’ll take the time and effort to set it up so that it’s exactly as I’d like it. I’ll pick a location and time of day with good lighting, and set up shots with a timer.

Louise Glendon is an entrepreneur, professional photographer and mum to her two girls aged six and seven. She teaches photography online through her website Click Love Grow. Visit the site for more information on how to take great shots of your kids go to and check out her photography courses.

Words by Louise Glendon