There’s a photo I just adore. It’s of my daughter taking her first real steps out in the wild — not just the ones where she teetered inside of our home and then quickly fell. One knee is up high and wide because she doesn’t quite know where to plant her foot, and walking next to her is my husband. The picture is from behind and it’s as perfect as a novice can get, but there’s one thing wrong with it — I’m not in it.
In fact, I’m not in a lot of these milestone family moments. The vignettes of my daughter smashing her first cupcake or tasting her first slice of pizza while sitting on the sidewalk are crowning achievements, and everyone that matters is in the background, except me. I was behind the camera, positioning people around the sun to avoid being swallowed by shadows. I enjoy capturing these events, but—like most moms, I imagine—I just want to be in some.
When I ask my husband to take the photo he’s great, but the trajectory of me spotting something sweet happening, then pausing to ask him to find his phone, then adding myself to the activity is essentially a lifetime for a 22-month-old. If we don’t act fast enough her cute pizza-eating is over and she’s moved onto something else and she’s not bookable for reshoots.
I first read about this common dilemma earlier this year — a mom blogged that she wanted to be in family photos and hated that she had to ask for someone to take her picture — and Chrissy Teigen’s recent Instagram post about being the “designated photo taker” motivated me to solve this and find a quick way to mount my phone anywhere and anytime. After researching easy-to-use iPhone mounts and tripods, I settled on this funny looking Joby Gorillapod Compact Tripod mount for $29 (it’s normally $49) because it was small and had good reviews. I didn’t want anything complicated.
I purchased an additional Square Jellyfish Mount for $10 (it was on sale at the time) because the Gorillapod connects to cameras not phones, but I read the whole system was easy to connect. When it arrived, all I had to do was twist the metal Square Jellyfish mount onto a tiny little screw at the top of the Gorillapod and twist. It took all of three seconds.