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Get in the photo: Ad campaign reminds moms to get out from behind the camera

"If these little monsters are worth documenting, you are, too."
/ Source: TODAY Contributor

As moms, we often obsess over photographing our little ones, yet shy away from the lens when the camera turns in our direction.

Whether you are still working to lose the baby weight (and your youngest is 5), haven't showered in days, or are in desperate need of a root touch-up, a funny video ad from Chatbooks — a service that compiles social media images into a monthly photo album — is reminding moms everywhere to step out from behind the iPhone and #getinthephoto.

In the ad, produced with Harmon Brothers, a busy mom looks through images of theme park vacations, dance recitals and birthdays, only to realize she does not appear in a single photo.

"Oh, I'm there, I'm always there," she says. "But you think I wanted documentation? I was a new mom who hadn't showered in weeks and lived in yoga pants."

RELATED: The Mom Stays in the Picture

It's an age-old dilemma for moms.

In a powerful essay titled "The Mom Stays in the Picture," originally published in 2012, TODAY Contributor Allison Slater Tate explores her own reluctance to appear in photos, after her son asked her to take photos together in the photo booth at a party.

"The kids are so much cuter than we are; better to just take their pictures, we think," Slater Tate writes.

"But we really need to make an effort to get in the picture. Our sons need to see how young and beautiful and human their mamas were. Our daughters need to see us vulnerable and open and just being ourselves — women, mamas, people living lives."

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"Too much of a mama’s life goes undocumented and unseen," she continues. "I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother."