OPINION: We Don’t Need 200 Photos to Prove We’re Educators

Somewhere along the way, our sector slipped into a strange belief: if we don’t take hundreds of photos a week, we’re not doing our job.

But here’s the truth that many educators whisper quietly, often only to each other: We don’t need 200 photos to prove we’re educators.
We never did.

The heart of early childhood education has always been relationships, presence, and professional decision-making, not the size of a digital gallery.

An opinion article for early childhood educators exploring why excessive photo-taking doesn’t define quality practice. Highlights the importance of presence, intentional documentation, and sector-savvy approaches to capturing photos for families, observations, and learning documentation.

The Cost of Constant Photography

Educators know the feeling:

You’re in the middle of a rich moment—children collaborating, problem-solving, laughing—and suddenly you’re pulled out of it because you “should get a photo.”

That interruption has a cost.

Cost to children

They lose your presence.
They lose your attunement.
They lose the uninterrupted flow of play.

Children don’t need a camera pointed at them to feel valued. They need an adult who is with them.

Cost to educators

You’re juggling devices instead of interactions.
You’re documenting instead of engaging.
You’re performing instead of teaching.

And let’s be honest: the pressure to “capture everything” is exhausting.

How We Got Here

This didn’t come from families alone. It came from us—the sector.

We introduced digital portfolios.
We normalised daily uploads.
We created the expectation that every moment must be photographed, tagged, and timestamped.

But expectations can be unmade. And unmade expectations can be rebuilt into something better.

What Quality Actually Looks Like

Quality isn’t measured in photos. It’s measured in:

Relationships
Emotional safety
Intentional teaching
Professional reflection
Children’s agency and well-being

None of these require a camera.

Example

A child spends 20 minutes experimenting with water flow in the sandpit.
You sit beside them, asking questions, extending thinking, and offering vocabulary.
No photo is taken.
But the learning is deep, meaningful, and relational.

That is quality.

Another example

A toddler climbs into your lap after a fall.
You hold them, breathe with them, and co-regulate.
There is no photo.
But the moment is everything.

That is quality.

Where Photos Do Matter And How to Use Them Well

This conversation isn’t about eliminating photos. It’s about rebalancing them.

Photos have a legitimate and important place in early childhood education when used intentionally:

1. Photos for Families

Families love seeing glimpses of their child’s day not a minute-by-minute replay.
A few thoughtful photos can:

Strengthen trust
Build connection
Offer reassurance
Spark conversations at home

But families don’t need 40 photos of the same activity. They need meaningful moments, not volume.

2. Photos for Observations

Photos can support educators to:

Capture key learning moments
Highlight developmental progress
Provide visual evidence for analysis
Support team discussions

But an observation is not a photo album. A single well-chosen image can anchor a rich, reflective narrative.

3. Photos for Documentation

Documentation should:

Tell a learning story
Show children’s thinking
Make pedagogy visible
Support planning and assessment

Photos are one tool not the goal. The thinking, analysis, and intentionality behind the documentation matter far more than the number of images attached.

The Importance of Being Present

Presence is not passive.
It is an active, intentional stance that says:

I see you.
I hear you.
I’m here with you.

Children learn emotional intelligence, resilience, and trust through co-regulation, not through curated images.

When educators are present, children feel it. When educators are distracted, children feel that too.

Sector-Savvy Insight: Technology Is a Tool, Not a Measure of Worth

Digital documentation has value—when used intentionally. But when it becomes a performance metric, it distorts practice.

Leaders need to ask:

Are we collecting evidence or collecting content
Are we documenting learning or documenting busyness
Are we supporting educators or overwhelming them

The sector is already stretched thin. Reducing unnecessary photo-taking is not just a well-being issue; it’s a quality issue.

What Families Actually Want

Families want to know:

Their child is safe
Their child is happy
Their child is learning
Their child is forming relationships

They don’t need 200 photos to understand that.
A thoughtful weekly reflection, a meaningful conversation, or a single well-chosen photo can communicate far more than a flood of images.

A Call to Rebalance

This is the moment for educators and leaders to rethink documentation culture. Not to eliminate photos but to use them wisely.

Let’s shift from “Take photos to prove learning” to “Be present to support learning.”

Let’s shift from “Capture everything” to “Capture what matters.”

Let’s shift from “Photos as evidence of teaching” to “Teaching as evidence of teaching.”

We don’t need 200 photos to prove we’re educators. Our presence, our relationships, our intentionality, and our professionalism already prove that—every single day.

When we put the camera down, something powerful happens:

We look up.
We connect.
We teach.