Feb
10
2013
I did it! I recorded all the ordinary joy filled and messy moments in our home life for the 52 weeks of 2013. There were so many pages that we couldn’t fit this all into one photo book! We’ve printed the first 29 weeks and let me tell you: this mission to have our life in a print form that we can enjoy was totally worth every second! The girls will happily sit and flip through that photo book and hear stories as long as I’m content to tell them. I didn’t always use my big camera (in fact, the post above is mostly Instagram images), but I captured our weekly life in such a raw form.
What I’ve learned most is how much those ordinary everyday moments really mean. That picture of the angel and cow riding the fire truck above will always crack me up. The image in Week 2 of Sedryn sick at the doctors office for the first time. The times where I or Derek are in the photos looking goofy perhaps but really loving life. All of those moments matter to the children. They matter to me. They’re tiny pieces of HIStory, of the grace He gives daily even in the mess.
I’ve also learned how much I just enjoy capturing kids and families just as they are, right in the middle of living out their beautiful messes: tears, joy, dancing, laughter, randomness, and all. Capturing the everyday details we so quickly forget is now a passion. I had the opportunity to do this for a family reunion in late November 2013. Just stalking around mostly unseen (except for the formals) and capturing what was happening. I haven’t recieved permission to blog their session yet! That’s a lot of model releases to track down. I’ll get on that soon because I really want you to see this session! This type of photo-journalistic lifestyle photography just makes passion boil forth in me. Especially when I see clients (or my kiddos) looking at the resulting albums!
Will I be continuing this project into 2013? Lord Willing! Not to this same depth and breadth (I’d like to only print one book a year!). Just a 2-6 pages per month as the events call for. More like a Home-Life Project 12. 😉
Feb
08
2013My clothes they’re all covered with ancient spit up stains, or grease, or wearing thin. Things have yet to fit around my hips shaped rounder by the 3 children who ruin what clothes that do fit. Some days I wonder how long it will be before I walk bare.
Motherhood is like that. This constant sacrifice of time and money and personal space and even unstained clothing to bring the little lives to a fuller life. I need nothing new, but they with their growing limbs spring ankles and tummies and wrists bare through outgrown clothing. And the Lord provides for these little flowers the newer petals.
And yet there’s something in me that wishes to be clothed new. Some sin in me that grows to scorn the 6 year old shirt that still looks good or the 11 year old shoes I’ve resoled once and need to do again. Some quiet covetousness that seeps up from those bare sinful places and claims a place in my heart where they should never be.
I confess and try to lay bare in forgiveness and contentedness.
Feb
06
2013I know I’m supposed to write about conquering a fear in the past. And true, showing the God-Sized Dreamers (and you) this picture below of me in my “awkward” stage may have made me giggle about a fear or two in the past.
That’s me on the left… I won’t name my innocent sidekick… she knows who she is 🙂
But the truth is that today is one of those days that the fears are winning.
Today is a day filled with what ifs. Filled with expectations too high and reality not meeting any of them. I’m tired (baby in bed with me randomly last night), hormonal (can this week be done yet?), slightly frustrated, and have no clear view of the path ahead of me. I’d say I’m pretty discouraged at the moment.
But God.
God leads me right here in this book that I facilitate discussion with on Tuesday evenings:
How can we tell whether our efforts at _______ (fill in the blank… although her book has words here) are motivated by reliance on God’s grace or on self trust? How can we know whether we’re trying to obligate God or serve him in gratitude? One way to judge is to consider your reaction when your _______ fail. If you are angry, frustrated, or despairing because you work so hard and they aren’t responding, then you’re working (at least in part) for the wrong reasons. Conversely, if you’re proud when ______ and you get those desired kudos–Oh! Your _____ are so good!–you should suspect your motives. Both pride and despair grow in the self-reliant heart.
Elyse Fitzpatrick in Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus
So there you have it: my learning for today’s day of despair. My self-reliant heart is preventing me from receiving the extravagant grace He has for me in this very moment.
Check your heart. Swim in His grace with me and then lets try again tomorrow.
Feb
05
2013Hold tight, friends. Compared to January, February is going to be one intense month! We’re going to attempt to hammer down the exposure triangle. We’ll go bit by bit, but for those of you unfamiliar with the exposure triangle this is going to be a month full of learning! The exposure triangle has three parts (duh, it’s a triangle. I’m a master of the obvious): Camera ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture. We’ll hit these one week at a time and pull it together in a large assignment at the end of the month. But first let’s recap some highlights from your first assignment!
Assignment Recap
This week I’ll show you an image from each participant because there are only 6 active participants in the group pool. I may showcase fewer photos in subsequent posts, but I’m just overwhelmed with joy that 6 people jumped in!
The soft processing, focus on the toes, and timelessness drew me to this image. Add in the juxtaposition of a girl wearing her Sunday best and eating drippy ice cream and this definitely catches my eyes! CraftLea has captured one for the wall here.
Andrew Aldrich is my father in law. I call him “The English Major” because book learning really isn’t his style. I’m so proud to see how far he’s come in the past few years through mentor-ships and watching all the YouTube material he can get his hands on! This was taken using a DSLR, but Andy also has a SLT in his endless bird photography gear 🙂 I could totally see this as an art print.
Heather Beals caught this great candid of her daughter. I love the expression and that she filled the whole frame with her fierce girl. She also managed to use on-camera flash competently: she’s not too close to the wall (leaving horrid shadows) and she’s not to close to her subject (washing out/overexposing the skin). The quirky camera angle just adds to the photo feeling, but it’s the expression here that really makes the photo!
Sara Beth nailed this. Stunning image, vibrate colors, great focus on the subject. Those flower hairs… dreamy. Sara Beth is using a point and shoot! Proof that fantastic images are made by people (who know their gear) rather than the best camera. Bravo!
Of the folks so far in the group, Teddy Bouch has the most defined style of the current participants: he loves the interplay of contrasted light. In this image the symmetry from the lights on the boat and the water really caught my eye. He also nailed a solid black exposure at night which is not an easy feat and show growing mastery of his camera.
Amanda is the mother of little Micah that I photographed in December. I personally have a love for a more lifestyle/photojouranlistic style with kids so this image absolutely caught my eye. The attitude in Elijah’s face and the complete toddler disregard for the photographers presence along with the perfectly highlighted static electricity hair just screams of everyday childhood to me. The black and white processing brings out all the detail while minimizing visual clutter. Great capture and one I know she’s putting on a canvas for her wall!
Camera ISO: Definition and Brief History
Ready to learn about camera ISO? Me neither. But let’s eat this elephant one bite at a time!
Feb
04
2013Super late on posting this since I had so many clients in late December and early January. I still have week 52 and some thoughts on the project to pull together. Whew. Just looking back over these pictures… ah… what a great week! Enjoy!
