If you're always behind the camera, this new Luxury Escapes experience can put you back in the frame

If you’re anything like me, your camera roll looks like a sparkly advert for Father’s Day, with a few blurry selfies of you and the kids. Now there’s an easy way to put yourself back in the memories.

If you’re anything like me as a mum, candid, unaware snaps of you and your kids are barely non-existent in your phone.

Instead it is filled with hundreds of frame-worthy pics and adorable clips of the father of your kids doting on their babies.

Many mums struggle to jump in front of the camera, and are more than happy to be the designated photographer, and we don't think twice in the moment. 

It's not until you look back on that holiday or special occasion and realise you were too busy capturing the first giggles, or candles being blown out, that you've become a ghost in photo albums.

That’s why when I travelled with my family recently for a mini winter escape I jumped at the chance to have it with a professional photo shoot.

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Many mums struggle to jump in the photos with their kids. Source: Travelshoot

A family photo shoot with little organising

With just weeks to go before I welcome our third baby I wanted to create some last minute, family-of-four memories, before a curveball is thrown into the lives of my two kids, and I disappear into the newborn haze. 

Never being one to organise a maternity shoot, or even professional family photos, I was intrigued by a new offering from Luxury Escapes which puts mums back in the picture during holidays - and it required minimal organising by me.

A little familymoon seemed like a great way to update the seriously lacking family photos, and get a couple of bumps shots in which I’ve missed in previous pregnancies.

We stayed at the RACV Royal Pines Resort Gold Coast with incredible views of the city. Source: KIdspot.

A stay for parents and kids 

My family-of-four recently escaped Sydney’s cold, with Virgin Australia, for the Gold Coast staying at the RACV Royal Pines Resort.

On arrival my two children, aged five and three, sniffed out the main attractions for little ones. The resort has a universal kid fav - a giant jumping pillow - two swimming pools with three water slides and a very cool kids splash waterpark.

It was winter, the middle of June, but the sun was glorious and the water was warm so I had no hope dragging my kids out of the pools without desperate pleas for ‘just one more slide’.

RELATED: The Gold Coast is the ultimate family playground

The resort has two pools, one catered to kids with slides and a splash park. Source: Kidspot.

We stayed in the Superior Spa Suite - with an interconnecting Twin Room for the kids - which had insane sweeping views of the resort's grounds, golf course and the city in the distance.

The 27-hole golf course was a huge hit, according to my husband,  I was more interested in the heavenly One Spa, and my GOODNESS you must visit if you’re in the area.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve barely switched off in months, or can’t get comfortable with a growing belly, but the 90-minute Mother Nurture treatment did things to my brain and body I didn’t know was possible.

I felt like I daydreamed out of there completely relaxed and rejuvenated - after snoring twice on my therapist.

The One Spa is heaven. Source: Kidspot.

Kid-friendly, laidback photo shoot 

After a couple of days enjoying the Queensland winter sunshine at the beach, theme parks and yummy eateries, we went to the botanic gardens just five minutes from where we were staying for a quick photo shoot with a Travelshoot photographer.

Both of my kids have different personalities when it comes to photos - the oldest loves to smile and play along, the youngest is a little more rogue.

I wasn’t expecting much, I wanted to follow their leads, and hopefully get a few snaps as we walked around.

The shoot was so laidback, and nothing felt forced, it was less than an hour that we strolled through the park at the children's pace, taking snaps as they admired wildlife and flowers.

Our photographer wizard Kiel ended up working actual magic, giving us an album full of photos with not only the four of us in the frame - something I have few photos of - but others of the kids smiling and stealing moments with their parents, which we don’t often capture.

Luxury Escapes allows families the opportunity to book a photographer on their holidays. Source: Travelshoot

"I was MIA in many captured memories"

This experience isn’t just available on the Gold Coast. Luxury Escapes now offers a Travelshoot experience in over 90 cities around the world - making it easy for holidaymakers to access a photographer wherever they roam. 

Any family can book a session starting from $299, choose your location and preferred booking length, before previewing shots within 48 hours and receiving a full album in seven days.

Travelshoot's founder Sarah Pearce wanted to make it easier to capture beautiful, album-worthy memories while travelling, so she built a global network of more than 250 professional photographers.

"After becoming a mum, it took me a while to embrace being in the frame again," she says.

"You're so deeply changed by the experience of motherhood... so it can be really confronting to reconcile who you see in the photo with how you feel inside.

"Mums are so good at being the 'official family photographer' at an event or trip away, but the outcome will be our kids asking where on earth we were in most of the family memories in years to come.

"Creating some of my own family albums during the pandemic made it very apparent that I was in the same camp as many mothers I’ve spoken to - I was just MIA in many of those captured memories.

"Since then, I’ve made the conscious decision to be in the frame, show my kids I’m confident no matter what or how I feel, and give them those memories to treasure in years to come." 

Families can book their own Travelshoot experience here. 

The journalist was a guest of Luxury Escapes on this trip, but opinions are her own.

Originally published as If you're always behind the camera, this new Luxury Escapes experience can put you back in the frame