Photographs - magic windows to the past

Let’s talk a bit more about how documentary family photography and capturing the everyday in photographs over the course of a year looks and feels like and why my documentary approach will deliver invaluable images for you and your kids.

In documentary photography we use a photojournalistic approach. That means that I don’t intervene, I don’t pose, I don’t direct, I don’t tell you how to dress and I won’t tell you to ‘say cheese’. Documentary photography is about representing your life as it is right in that moment.

When I come to your home my job is to make you forget that I’m there, to blend into the furniture and become a fly on the wall. I’m really good at that. I’m an expert wallflower! At the same time, we’ll developed a special connection. I become part of your family for a few hours at a time and we’ll likely share and document some vulnerable or embarrassing moments. And in the end, you might even have a new friend :-)

Being an expert wallflower while also being part of your family allows me to capture moments that would otherwise go unnoticed, it allows you to be truly yourself, it allows me to add depth and nuances to your images that would otherwise not be there and to capture the imperfections and quirks of your life that make it so freaking special.

My goal is to hold up a mirror for you and show you the smorgasbord of little moments and stories that, as a whole, make your life so absolutely wonderful. I’ll show you details that you might miss when you’re right in the thick of living that glorious (and exhausting) life.

Imagine pulling out that photo album we’ll create next year in 20 or 30 years and seeing that face your toddler (now all grown up) used to pull every time you tried to put the damn sunscreen on, seeing that stuffie toy that had to come with your kiddo every dang time you left the house, seeing those scribbles on the newly painted wall where your preppie practiced writing, seeing the sea of lego everyone was so obsessed with, and seeing yourself tenderly stroking your kid’s hair as you walked past them (like you did so many times - often not even realising).

Now, imagine your grandkids holding that album, wondering what their grandparents and parents were like - maybe you’re not there anymore - and seeing you, the real you, your story, your character, your mannerism, your quirks and, most importantly, your immense love for your family. How does that feel?

Can you see the invaluable gift an album with photographs documenting your family life through the seasons is for your kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkids? Photographs are magic windows to the past - especially the ones created by an expert wallflower ;-)

Let’s preserve your memories for years and decades to come.