Year In The Life: Apple Picking At Wynn Farms

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Year In The Life: Apple Picking At Wynn Farms

A “year in the life” photography package isn’t for everyone.

It is an investment, for sure.

It means that we can get together multiple times a year (12 is the suggested amount, once per month, but really any amount works!) and document the growth of your children, especially if they’re in particularly dynamic parts of their childhoods (e.g. transition from toddler to preschooler, transition from early childhood to adolescence, etc).

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Awesome Candid Family Photos Without The Awkward Posing | An Hour In The Backyard With The Horner Family

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Awesome Candid Family Photos Without The Awkward Posing | An Hour In The Backyard With The Horner Family

I’ve done more posey family photoshoots, and it’s been stressful. Stressful for the people involved, because they were too concerned about looking “just right” and smiling to the camera. But also stressful for me, because I knew that those smiles would never be as genuine as we could get if they just relaxed.

So over time, I’ve made it so that I mostly work with families who really and truly care about their real lives. Families who are not ashamed to post real photos. Families for whom family photos are not used to brag on social media, but rather - to cherish and relive, for years and years to come, with other family members and friends.

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Taking Candid Photographs of Grandma | the McNabb Family Make Time for Family Memories

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Taking Candid Photographs of Grandma | the McNabb Family Make Time for Family Memories

This photo session was all about capturing moments with Grandma.

The girls have an amazing grandma.

She lives out in BC, but often spends weeks at a time travelling to Ontario to be with her granddaughters.

Some of the awesome activities that they do include swimming in the backyard pool, learning about flowers and gardening, eating yogurt together, and just enjoying each other's company.

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A Year in the Life: Watch This Family Grow Before Your Eyes 🥳

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A Year in the Life: Watch This Family Grow Before Your Eyes 🥳

A Year in the Life is a big commitment. It’s honestly not for everyone.

But there are families out there who are going through big changes - kids growing up and reaching milestones - families who are enamoured with the idea of creating memories & keepsakes…

That’s who the YITL is for. ❤️

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You know family photographs are important, but you hate being photographed. Le sigh.

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You know family photographs are important, but you hate being photographed. Le sigh.

Here’s the honest truth: It’s not as though when I first arrive at someone’s house for the first time, they’re doing a little excited jig, eager to get their photos taken for three hours or a full day.

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Documentary Family Photography | why are so many people ditching traditional portraits and going 'documentary'?

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Documentary Family Photography | why are so many people ditching traditional portraits and going 'documentary'?

Insofar as social media exacerbates social isolation because of feelings of inadequacy (think of all those ‘perfect’ people, places, lives), documentary photographs offer a way forward. They offer honesty. They tell a story of each person and each family just as they are, in all that makes them human, flawed, relatable.

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Documentary Family Photography | Sand, swings, and puddles: the mysteries of life

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Documentary Family Photography | Sand, swings, and puddles: the mysteries of life

You've heard me say it before and I'll keep saying it just as often as I can: every family is different, and the activities that fill your days are unique to your own family, and you should never ever try to compare yourself to any other, because comparison is the thief of joy. But all strong families have one thing in common and that is...

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An hour with the Castellanos family

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An hour with the Castellanos family

I made the trip back to Mississauga last weekend, during some kind of migraine-inducing pressure system that drove temperatures in mid-October to 24 Celsius. It was just as well, because Isabel's son was recovering from croup and the warm humid air was probably good for him. (Just guessing. I'm not a doctor.) They'd moved in to a new house only two weeks ago. Grandma and grandpa were visiting from Colombia, and they were hoping for some photos to take back with them. So, a busy time for them, and yet they made time for me.

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family and so much more: on photographing life.

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That's the best bit about documentary photography, I suppose: being welcomed into lives as they unfold, trying my best to do them justice. 

That whole bit about being a fly on the wall - who knows if that is true? Flies buzz around in your ear and unnerve you. A documentary photography experience normally has the opposite result: it calms and grounds people, and makes them thankful for the lives they live.

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photography reaches deeper than research

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photography reaches deeper than research

Before I became a family photographer, I was a parenting researcher. I was interested in how parents behaved, and how their children developed.

However, most of the hands-on data collection and family visits were not done by me. They were done by research assistants who would collect the data and hand it over to us, the researchers. 

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make time for the pit-stops (with the Millers)

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make time for the pit-stops (with the Millers)

I'm well versed in traveling with children, painful road trips, scrambling for ideas to distract the little people in the back, without being able to explain why it's taking so long, or tell a white lie like, "we're nearly there". 

But life is not a race. Make time for the pit stops. 

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2016's best of: snuggle moments

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2016's best of: snuggle moments

Today it snowed again. It's still not officially winter, but I've got a roaring fire going and some light music, too much coffee, and two sleeping dogs. Lots of inspiration for this blog post, a collection of my favourite images from 2016 depicting snuggle and smooch moments. 

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