Several months back I decided to leave my photography “comfort zone” and head into the comfort zone of this family; their home. My heart has been aching for a new adventure for quite some time and the little voice inside my soul has lead me to the dynamics of a family. While I knew that I would be faced with some challenges that would make this new adventure a learning experience, I still felt like the home was where I needed to be. No matter how minimal the natural light was, I was determined to step into the heart of a home that belonged to a family I had never met and spend the better part of the day with them to just capture them being them. To capture them being a family.
As a photographer, I like to have control of the surroundings where I shoot. I pick the time of day that the light will be just right, I pick places where there will be minimal distraction, I bring props to add the flare needed to create my vision… While this is all grand and wonderful and makes for super pretty pictures, I wanted to be somewhere that I had no control of the surroundings. No say in what was used for a prop. No idea what the lighting would be like. And I think I found the perfect place.
There is so much beauty in the every day. My camera cannot quite do justice to how harmoniously a family works. While in the midst of the chaos and the rush of every day, we often fail to see this.
“Ours is a transient life, lived on the run with an endless sense of process, of movement, of chasing the future. We seldom pause to shine light upon the ordinary moments, to hallow them into our own attentiveness, to honor them with gentle caring. They pass, unnoticed, lost in the ongoing rush of time.” ~Kent Nerburn
I so badly want to take gentle care of these ordinary moments. To pause and shine light on them. Entering into this home reiterated what I already knew. Sometimes what seems to be the smallest things make the biggest impact. Making pancakes with you kids, tea parties with siblings, family jam sessions, having an older sibling fix your hair… while in the moment these things may not seem so grandiose, they are such a vital part to the intricately woven tapestry that is a family. And the things that inevitably make us who we are as individuals.
It is with a vulnerable heart that I share the following images. This personal project means a lot to me and I hope that I will be invited in to the home’s of others in the future. A huge thank you to this family for allowing me to be a part of your day and to let me capture the small moments that are cared for by such big love.
