Capturing candid family vacation moments & memories in Azul Fives Mexico

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Often, it’s very true. However, I’ve noticed that when I take pictures of my family where they stop and pose, while great, the pictures aren’t always very telling. It’s those candid moments, when my family doesn’t realize that the camera is there, that best capture the mood and moment. They capture facial expressions, body movement and the emotions in a way a posed picture can not. I tried to capture those candid #NikonMOMents during my family’s trip down south to Mexico.  That trip was back in November, but I’ve been reminiscing about it ever since, especially since it’s been such a cold and snowy winter, even into March.  Here are some of my favourite candid moments to help keep us feeling warm until our summer weather arrives.

The Pool

We stayed at the beautiful Azul Fives resort in Mexico. The resort was filled with pools that flow like a river between the two-story complex buildings. The boys had so much fun swimming in the pool from morning till night. We loved it because we could stay outdoor and enjoy the pool amenities (hello – swim up bar) while the littlest ones napped inside. After our vacation here, we are planning to come back and stay at the private beachfront Puerto Vallarta villa rental.

Here are some of my favourite candid shots captured by the pool. To get shots of kids on the move, remember to keep the exposure speed short to stop motion and the aperture wide open. Try using shutter speed of  1/500.

Tip: To get the blurred background, select the largest aperture available on your lens, such as f/4 or f/5.6.

Tip: To ensue I capture jumping and throwing pictures, I set my camera to sports mode. The Nikon D3300 automatically sets up the camera on continuous shooting mode, large aperture and fast shutter speed.

The Beach

Whether you’re young or old, the beach offers something for everyone. I remember the days when I used to lay on a beach chair all day long only getting up for a quick swim in the ocean when I got too hot.  These days, I spend more time sitting in the sand playing with my boys, relaxing on beach chairs is a distant memory. My boys love creating sand “castles” and digging around. While they’re not big fans of swimming in the ocean yet, they were brave enough to get close to fill up their bucket with water (holding our hands of course).

Kids Club House

The resort had this great kids club with four separate rooms housing different activities. There was a crafts room, an electronic games room, a gym and a Fisher-Price toy room.  Just outside the kids house was a shallow pool perfect for young kids equipped with the cutest lounge chairs.  The best part was that you could sign out any of the Fisher-Price toys and bring them back to your suite. This was perfect for the early morning wake-ups and to keep the kids entertained as we waited for food to arrive. Tip: When photographing indoors, it’s sometimes best to use your flash if there isn’t enough natural light. Make sure you’re fairly close to your subject if you’re relying on the pre-build camera flash.

Animals

Animals, like kids, are not great at standing still when you’re trying to photograph them. Especially if the animal in subject is a monkey.  Our resort had a family of monkeys living there and they graced us with their presence on a daily basis as we made our way to the beach.  They even had a few playful babies swinging around.  Besides the monkeys, we spotted iguanas and some other beautiful birds.  There was definitely no shortage of animals which added to our overall beauty of where we stayed.

Of course… posed pictures are great as well as you can (after 50 takes) get everyone to look at the camera! Here are some of my favourites

Tip: When giving your DSLR camera to others to take pictures of you, put the camera on “auto” mode to ensure the pictures come out looking great.