Hi everyone!

I want to take some time today to talk through some photo-related things that have been on my heart the last few months, as well as some shifts that are taking place in light of that!

You’ll see me with a much greater focus on capturing your really real life this year through a more documentary-style family photography approach, and in this video I explain why that’s very much in line with my values and what I *really* want to be offering you as your photographer.

The biggest takeaways –

At my core, what do I want to be offering you with the photos I take of your family?

• My mom passed away when I was 21 years old, and I now have this finite collection of images with her. I recognize that if I had the opportunity to have more photos from my time with her, it would be of the everyday moments – spending time together at home, her combing my hair in the morning, playing games together… however we naturally spent our days together.
• Photos have a time traveling super power. Years from now when your kids are no longer kids and you’re older or are no longer here, I want the images I take of your family to serve as a window into your daily life as it is right now.
  • What does your morning routine look like?
  • What are the moments in your day you find the most sacred?
  • How do you enjoy spending time together as a family?
  • What do you look like as you parent your children, everyone in their regular clothes, in your everyday spaces?

I wholeheartedly believe your real life is beautiful. Your day-to-day, unpolished, uncurated real life.

• I’m exploring what it looks like to shift from capturing carefully curated beauty ➡️ to showing you how beautiful your real life already is

So, I’m exploring documentary family photography!

• With this style, our conversation is less about scheduling in time for a photo session. It’s more about you living your regular lives and having me come alongside you for a while to document it.

What am I doing right now to explore documentary family photography?

• I’m learning – I took an online self-paced class last month, I have another one to work through, and I’m currently in a real-time workshop that meets weekly & has homework assignments, critique, a class project, etc.
• I’m practicing – I’m trying out this documentary style with family sessions and starting to infuse more real life moments into my current New Life Collection sessions with babies and already-scheduled family sessions
• I’m getting feedback – I want to continue to focus on creating tangible artwork with these images & potentially also offering digital files in a greater capacity, so I’m listening from families I work with to learn what works best for their families.
  • Also very cool: Recently when asking family session clients if they want a more lifestyle or documentary style for their session, everyone so far has said documentary. There is a wider recognition that these real life moments aren’t often captured by a professional, and there is value in that!

Those are just a few snippets from the video, so take a listen to the whole video when you get the chance!

I’d love to hear what you think. Send me a message so I can hear your thoughts!