109 Rare Historical Photos To Enlighten Your View Of The World (New Pic)

Mateer's advice to everyone is to document it all. You can never take too many photographs. "Portraits definitely have their place – but capturing real moments, of your children playing, having fun, being themselves, interacting with each other and yourselves... You'll love looking back on those moments even more – because those will be the moments you miss as they grow up," she said.

However, she adds that it doesn't hurt to hire a professional now and again. "When documenting your own family, the person behind the camera is always missing from the photo. Looking back at the images, the person holding the camera is erased from the moment, forever," she told us.

"A skilled and empathic documentary photographer can document real moments of the whole family – however big or small – capturing everyone together. No one misses out on the memory, no one is cut out of the frame. And of course, there is a matter of quality of the output that allows detail to be seen and large prints to be made – and the style of compositions and choice of moments a professional will be able to capture for you."