Photobiography
pho·tog·ra·phy: n. The art, process, or job of taking pictures with a camera.
bi•og•ra•phy: n. The story of a person’s life, recounted by someone else.
For years, I have bounced back and forth between wanting to craft and create a moment or simply document a moment. I’ve loved both and I think I always will. But becoming a mother changed me. It changed my core, it changed my business. It changed my priorities. It changed my passions. It changed my perception of what is important. It changed how I saw the world.
There was no going back. The desire to capture life, as it’s happening. Real. Life. Not posed, polished, shiny, and pretty life. But the powerful, gritty, soul shaking beauty of real life.
Over the last few years since moving my focus to birth photography and becoming a mom to my two kiddos. It just made sense for the documenting nature of birth photography to spread across all facets of the style I want to shoot. Now all of my sessions are shot to document real life, as is.
What does real life family look like in a photobiography session? Do you want to remember the fleeting and sweet moments of bath time and bed time? Maybe you’re nursing your newborn babe in the chair, while your older kids make a massive mess in the living-room with their legos. Or are you huddled around the table eating dinner and talking about your day? Are your girls are playing hopscotch in the cul de sac while you catch a quiet moment with your husband on the porch? Are you folding laundry waiting for dad to get home, while the kiddos demolish all you’ve cleaned?
What are the things that 20 years from now you don’t ever want to forget? For me now, in this season… I want to remember the dimples on the top of my daughter’s hands, and what they look like covered in finger paint. I want to remember how my son crosses his feet and strokes my face when he nurses. I want to remember this home, we may not always live here. I want to look back at these memories and be able to smell the cookies baking in the kitchen, and smell the soap in her hair when I give her a bath.
I want to freeze time. I want to preserve this life.