A Year's Worth of Photographs | Year in the Life | January & Dinnertime With The Wright/Straub Family

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Can you imagine having your very own personal photographer, following you around for a year, documenting all the stuff you and your family gets up to?

I can! :) Because that’s literally what I do.

I first came up with this idea in late 2016, and only a day after blogging about it, Jacklyn had approached me, saying she was 100% loving the idea and could she book?

So that is how, in 2017, I became the family photographer of Jacklyn, Straub, and their two boys Will and Tom.

For the next twelve months, they took me to all sorts of different places - including on a train ride to Toronto! - as we documented their ordinary life that year.

I met up with them every month, at a time convenient for them all, and we made memories.

Woman preparing dinner for family in the kitchen. Evening picture of dinner time with family, mom dad and two boys at the dining table at home. Photography by Viara Mileva Quirky love photography at Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Here is our first session: it was during the darkest days of winter, mid-January. I went over to their house on a school-night, and the session was about capturing their dinnertime together. Jacklyn made some chicken and rice, the boys played some games on their tablets while dinner was being made, and then everyone sat together and shared stories from the day.

The boys talked about school, their parents talked about work. They all did that magical and timeless thing that families do the world over, when they sit to dine together.

They share stories, and create a legacy.

They pass on values, traditions, and beliefs to their children.

Boy talking to his father. Evening picture of dinner time with family, mom dad and two boys at the dining table at home. Photography by Viara Mileva Quirky love photography at Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

And on it goes.

Their sweet pup Lyla was always close by, looking and listening, as if actively involved in the conversation.

I took lots of photographs of her. She has a super adorable face, with a little jutting out tooth and a “cherry eye” mass in one of her eyes - benign and completely distinctive features :)

This was the best first session - it allowed us to meet each other, and for the family to really get used to how I photograph, in the comfort of their own home.

I remember at one point, their youngest son, Will, looked over and smiled at the camera. Jacklyn smiled at him and said, “you know, you don’t have to do that for Viara. You can just be yourself. Just do you, and she’ll take our photos.”

He smiled back, and that was that! From that point on, they completely understood that the purpose of these sessions was not to do things for me. It was for me to capture their memories.