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Every few months I try to do “a day in the life of Chloe” you can see them here, hmmm I am probably due for one pretty soon. When I do this I am trying to catch her while she is doing things important to her. For example right now there are a lot of things that represent Chloe at this stage.
Watching Sesame Street or Daniel Tiger
Wearing her shoes (always Converse and her new thing is taking out the laces)
Eating her favorite foods (eggs, PB sandwiches, cheerios, fruit snacks, pizza, chicken nuggets)
Getting whatever she wants by using her Elmo chairs to climb
Wearing no less than 3 outfits a day unless she is just naked
the list goes on and is always changing…
So this week I set out to get the “details” as the focus of the frame and NOT Chloe. I wanted to take my “normal” pictures but also ones where the story is still there, but she is not. Kind of like the Kids were Here project that just launched. As I said have said previously, lifestyle photography can be spontaneous or orchestrated. For these I am leaning towards orchestrated. Still the details of Chloe, but a little cleaned up. For example, the potty shot. Initially the potty was exactly where she left it and this is what I got.
This one is not cleaned up at all. She was going potty and when she got up I took the picture. But the light was difficult and I just really didn’t like the background. See the potty shots before for the “clean” versions. All I did was move the potty further from the window, turn it 90 degrees, and shift her card mess.
Same shots with her in them… does the story change?
The first thing I do when I arrive to a client’s home to tell their story is walk around their house. Seeing the stories that I could tell in each room is an important part of that walk as well as getting a feel for the light in each room, also VERY important. While the focus of this week’s personal project was to get the details of my own daughter, this has made me a better storyteller in general and I plan to make it a permanent part of my client routine/session. They will help lead into or out of the video clips I take. They will set the mood or be the narrative. In any case I am happy to capture these details to tell the story.
Thanks for looking.
denver, dallas
& worldwide