One thing I love about doing “Day In The Life” portrait sessions …. catching real life moments like these. Jacob was considering climbing the stairs for the first time while I was there photographing the family. The next shot was of his bum …. from behind … as he traversed the lower three steps. Priceless moment.
Day In The Life sessions are meant to be photo journalistic in nature. Nothing is staged. We use whatever natural light is available and make images of life – just as it is. Once the session is done you will receive prints from your day so that years from now you can pull them out, pass them around and tell stories from this time in your journey.
A day in the life portrait sessions are something new I’ve been experimenting with lately. Rather than dressing up, coming to my studio and trying to get everyone to behave perfectly to make one beautiful photo – I come to you and document your life as is. I’m your paparazzi for a few hours and we capture all those precious moments that make life wonderful …. mess, imperfection and all.
This morning bath is just one activity we photographed in the three hours I spent with this family. I love the bottom right image because it contains three generations of love. Grammie in the background helping Josh get clean … while he leans over and looks at a photo of his great-grandfather.
And one of Joshua’s twin brother Jacob – taking a break from watching Mickey and eating breakfast to give me some serious checking out. I was told Jacob is more introverted and loves really taking people in – so this moment captures him wonderfully. :)
Dear Cousin –
I’m breaking all the rules with this post. It’s a day early for one. Wednesday already feels like it’s going to get away from me – so I’m grabbing this free moment and squeezing every ounce out of it to make sure I blog my photos. For two – though I initiated the “let’s shoot with the same lens” idea and agreed to shoot with my 50 – I didn’t do it. My 35 came in the mail and I just had to give it a test run. I’m really loving it – and am so glad you nudged the project a bit because it totally rejuvenated me. Thanks lady!! :) My photo walk wound up being a few different days – from the first image made with my 35, to a trip to the beach – the one summer thing I’ve done this year!!, and one from an inspiring portrait shoot I did today. Here you go! Love you. Can’t wait to see yours. :)
The first image from the new 35 …. yay!! Wide open and sharp.
Beach cottage playfulness. Love the fluff container turned flower vase. When is the last time you had fluff? When I lived out West I met people who had never heard of it.
Photographer HEAVEN!! The perfectly blue sky turned cloudy and I began to salivate! Can you relate?
I bid so long to my beach buddies and moved on down the road. I just had to chase the stormy moodiness.
Lastly, and respectfully – one image from a recent portrait session. Carey just had a double mastectomy and we are going to document the changes, the scars, the recovery. She’s given me permission to share all the images – which I will do one day. It was an honor for me to do this with her – and she said it was very cathartic for her. ♥♥♥
Lydia is a photographer in NYC and I’m in CT. We decided a while back that we wanted to work on a project together – and we’re still figuring out what that is. Here is a LINK to my first post which explains the idea and here is a LINK to Lydia’s last post in the project.
I had to run to the grocery store this morning. Last minute, 5 steps behind in my day – running from my car to the front door in the pouring rain. I got what I needed quickly enough, then made my way to the front of the store to find there was only one checker line open. No problem, I got in line with everyone else. The woman in front of me was turned facing the line – rather than the check-out – and she kept looking at me, wanting to connect over our shared predicament of the slowness of service.
Eventually she asked, “You wanna go ahead of me? I don’t mind.”
“Um, no – but thank you,” I replied. I wasn’t sure why she was offering.
She asked again, “Are you sure. You can if you want.”
“Thank you, but no” I repeated, “We have the same amount of stuff in our carts. No worries. Very kind of you though.”
We then joked about how it seemed like her cart was overflowing because she had no less than 5 bags of pet food piled up in it. They were buy one get one half off – so she’d decided her animals could live for another month. She indicated one last time that I could cut the line. I had an overwhelming sense that she just needed to talk with someone.
After a few moments of hesitation I told her …”You know – we are having a workshop in my studio tonight. In light of Robin William’s death we are going to talk about living from a place of gratitude and keeping our hearts open. I’m going to share with the group how kind you were to me. Sometimes all people need is for someone else to acknowledge them and connect in our humanity to make a difference in a day….”
She immediately welled up. She said she has cried twice over his passing and that she feels very concerned for many people in her life. I won’t go into all that she shared – just that she did need to talk for a minute. She needed someone to be kind to her – just as she was offering a random act of kindness. After she checked out she turned back to me, wished me luck in the workshop – and in life. Then she giggled and said “Don’t tell them this story – I didn’t do anything. Make something up. Make it really good ….” I laughed with her – but told her- it’s the smallest acts of love that make the biggest difference. She touched my heart with her gesture and really did make a difference in the course of my day.
Is there someone you can reach out to today?
I realized the other day that I don’t know the CT shore very well. Growing up, friends and I always drove to RI – and family and I always went to places like Delaware and North Carolina. With a desire to explore, I took a drive towards the shore recently and happened upon this peaceful spot. Where is your favorite local get away?
The next few days in the studio will be spent finishing up some gift items and various projects. I get so many requests for these photo coasters – which can also be used as art tiles – that I’m making up a few dozen sets. They are so perfect for housewarming presents, thank you’s, teacher appreciation …. anything really …. that I sell out of them almost as soon as they are made. They are all handmade from my original photos.
I’m just loving when I can close the studio before dusk …. grab my camera …. and chase the sun. I’ve been exploring a trail that is part of an old abandoned farm. Parts of the land have been leased to a local farmer …. and the corn is getting high. A fellow trail walker last night told me that George Washington once camped here.
A lovely night for a walk …
Corn … in CT … at the golden hour. I think this would be a beautiful spot for a portrait.
Tania Palermo [Studio on Main] 