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.

My studio photos from when I was a kid - I think I’ve got a couple of those - are empty vessels. They're fully devoid of context. Other than my cute pig-tails, and the virginal white dress, I can’t answer any questions about the time and place. What was I into at that period in my life? I didn’t wear dresses except on that one day my grandmother took me to the studio, and I didn’t wear my hair in pigtails, either, I know that much. I wore "boys'" clothes and played with sticks and stray kittens and I was afraid of frogs (which hasn’t changed). None of that comes through in my childhood studio portraits. Not even a tiny bit, though I wish it could.

Have you ever wished you could have an authentic, all-encompassing photographic story of your family’s life?

Not a last-minute portrait session before the holidays, or a mad scramble to don matching outfits and smiles in front of a curtain, but a real, honest-to-goodness portrayal of the crazy, quiet, cozy, obnoxious, loving, warm, or plain inexplicable moments your family burns through in a single year?