Ritual: The Family Selfie

We have a family ritual on my birthday of going to a restaurant that has a wall of mirror windows nearby.  Because it is my birthday, my family indulges me a 5-minute photo shoot.

Up above is our first family "selfie" in that window, before the selfie trend was born.  It must be from 2010.  Since then we've taken quite a few more, to varying degrees of success.  In the process, I realize that family selfies can hold life lessons.  Here are a few:

• try to catch the best light;
• be careful what you focus on, not the car in the background, the person walking, or the back of someone's head;
• keep it centered;
• keep the camera subtle;
• stay close to each other, but not so close that personalities get stifled;
• a little blur is not such a bad thing;
• black and white can be nice and simple;
• shut the van door;
• get up close, but not too close;
• point straight ahead;
• look straight ahead;
• try to keep the family front and center;
• let John be;
• be mindful of June's legs;
• don't let Clara hide;
• enjoy Will's expressions, subtle as they may be;
• don't cover up Jeff;
• catch the moment quickly - it's fleeting;
• hope for the best!

PS - These are more pictures than you care to see.  Only in two did we half-way get it right.  The others drive home the points above, in photos as in life.