BEHIND THE ‘GRAM
We all know that Instagram can be just one big ‘ol highlight reel - especially now that the current trend is to have these perfectly curated feeds to keep people double-tapping and following. I try to make it a point to be as honest and vulnerable as I can on my page, but of course you don’t always get the behind-the-scenes story of each picture. So I thought I’d share the behind the scenes with y’all. I recently saw this idea on Hayley Paige’s blog, and thought that this is such a fun and freeing idea! So here are the backstories on my last six photos:
I love this picture! It was posted for Father’s Day, and I chose it because a) I haven’t posted a picture of Eli on my Instagram feed yet, and b) I love the way Toby is gazing at Elijah. Seriously insert all the heart-eyes emojis! This was the day after Eli was born and while we were still at the hospital. Eli looks so tiny here and it’s crazy to me that he will be a year old at the end of the month! (cue the tears!)
This one has two pictures thanks to the swipe feature. The second picture is pretty much explained in the caption of the post. And you can read more about how we met here. But a quick funny story about how I snapped a photo of the church is that I made Toby drive around the church’s parking lot to get a shot and there was a group of older men staring at us! Toby was so embarrassed, ha! As we were pulling off, one older man walked slowly toward us, all the while staring, and we quickly realized he thought we were trying to do something to his car. Haha!
The first picture was taken that spring before we got engaged. A friend from church wanted to practice his photography after service one Sunday and we were willing participants! We have four pictures from this “session” and it’s honestly some of my favorite pictures of Toby and me.
This picture was supposed to be Toby and Eli, but I kept getting bad pictures, Toby was hot, and Eli was over being tossed in the air! So Mama stepped in! To me, Eli barely looks like a snuggly baby in this picture. I still can’t believe my baby boy has gotten so big!
I love the full, uncropped version of this picture because I feel like it captures some of the bond Eli and I have. And it was such a beautiful day! I’m also in love with this area of our church building. Our church is in the historic West End of Atlanta and is definitely an older building.
This Fourth of July was so much fun, as it was Eli’s first! We went to a new(ish) local park to eat with my mom, grandma, and friends of the family, and then checked out bits of the park before we headed to see fireworks later that evening. I spotted this cute gazebo and knew we had to take pictures! Toby was grateful to let my mom snap pictures, while he got a break from being the usual photographer, ha! Eli looks like he is walking independently in this picture, but I am definitely holding his hand. He’s taken a few steps on his own a few times in the past few weeks, but he’s still content holding on to Mama’s hand! And I just love the joy that you can see from the side of his face! Ah, Mama’s heart can’t take it!
Finally, I must admit that this picture isn’t my favorite. The lighting wasn’t the best, and anyone with a baby knows that pictures with them can be unpredictable. Eli was crawling around and grabbing the books and then trying to nurse. Then, in the middle of me snapping pictures, he gets up and takes some steps! This was a big deal because I have yet to catch him walking on camera! I couldn’t get from picture mode on my iPhone to the video quick enough, and he just plopped right back down and crawled away. Sigh! But seriously guys, a dollar for a book teaching kids about God and His Word? I’m all the way here for it!
Well, I hope this was a fun read, and a reminder that everything is not what it seems in those tiny squares on Instagram. May we all remember to not compare ourselves to the highlight reels. I like what I saw a friend of mine post on Facebook:
Real life over reel life.