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I love the “On this Day” you can review on Facebook to see all your posts from previous years. I can see what life was like before Motherhood and after Chloe came into the picture. For instance, this was the week we moved to Colorado and the majority of my posts from 2008 are complaints about the moving process. In 2013 Chloe tried hot chocolate for the first time and last year my feed was flooded with pictures from our family visit to Texas.
For the past week I flirted with the idea of writing an article for a photography magazine with a focus on change. So I decided to share the ideas on the blog instead. In the first year of Chloe’s life my photography was pitiful. No really. Her 1st year album is a collection of mostly out-of-focus images, which is fitting since the memories are a bit hazy as well. Portraits I took with a tripod and timer so that I could be IN the pictures, because handing the camera over to James is never productive. Awful selfies taken during the middle of night feedings. Then there are of course images to document the firsts: rolling over, sitting up, teeth, standing, smile, and steps. By the time I learned to take a decent picture and then found my way to lifestyle & documentary photography, she was two years old with a lot of missed opportunities. At least I managed to get an in-focus image on each birthday!
We visit my niece every six months like clockwork and I document Chloe and ‘Relia together as much as I can. Documenting their relationship growing is as important as the milestones. Can you see them looking over these images when they are grown and have children of their own?
I also think of it as a challenge to document growth between sessions for my clients. Before I arrive at a returning client’s house I am brainstorming ways to document how much the children have grown. Sometimes that means taking an image in the same spot each session or just documenting the same people together. Other times it means focusing on one person to get an environmental portrait to compare to a previous one. The best part of my job is getting to see these children grow.
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