If a mother's picture is taken without her kids does anyone see it?

I know that most blogger/mothers are like me - we love to take pictures. Photos of our families, of places and things we love and we love to share them. I think it gives us all an ability to really get to know each other even when separated by time zones and borders. I love seeing photos of other people's kids and homes and even the meals they have created but what we rarely see is pictures of ourselves.

When I look back at old family photos from my childhood, of which there are many, there are lots of me and my brother and sister. Many of us with our father and grandparents, our pets, taken on holidays at the cottage or camping. And some just everyday pictures of us growing up but there are next to none of my mother. She was always behind the lense. I remember her not wanting to be a group shots, she was self concious about her weight even though she wasn't a big woman at all. In early photos of her I see a beautiful, young mother.One professional shot of her and me when I was a year old was even used as an ad for the photographer.(Again, I wish I could show you but I am posting on my bb from the dock) But as the years went on she slowly disappeared from the pages of our albums.

Now I see the same thing happening to me. When the boys were younger I was in many pictures mostly because I was the one holding them and my husband was forced to pick up the camera. A few of them I love, others I could happily burn or delete if not for the adorable baby or toddler in my arms. As a teenager I documented most of my friends' terrible 80's haircuts and boyfriends. Fortunately for them the photos are safely in albums in my basement not on facebook. To this day I tend to pick up the camera at parties and events, partly to hide behind but also to give me a purpose. In our family life I love to capture candid shots of the kids and friends with a long lense. As for me, I may have to ask my sister-in-law who is a professional photographer to train her camera on me when I am not paying attention.

It is that age old question that mothers sometimes ask themselves, "Do I exist outside of my family? Or "If a picture is taken of a mother without her kids, does anyone see it?"