Storytellers' Circle September | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

One of my favorite things about documentary family photography is the challenge of telling a story through pictures.  Ideally, the viewer should be able to look at the picture and understand what is taking place and be moved to some emotion.  I love cute pictures of my kids (just check out my Instagram feed!), but my favorite images, and I feel my best images, are the ones I have to work hard for.  A great picture is the result of multiple decisions made by the photographer about how to best show the scene they see and tell the story in a way that emotionally connects with the viewer.  This challenge is what keeps me pulling out my camera on an almost daily basis.

This post is part of the Storytellers blog circle, a group of documentary family photographers from all over the world, who come together monthly to post one image and explain the choices they made that take it from a simple snapshot to more profound storytelling. Continue the circle by checking out Jen Lucas's September image.

I'm sharing one of my favorite recent images today. I love it for several reasons. I'm in it, for one. When one parent is the primary family photographer, they are usually the one least seen in photos. My husband will takes over the camera whenever I ask him, and I do occasionally, but I also love the challenge of a self-portrait with my kids. This one is all the more dear because it shows something about each of their personalities. My oldest's unbounded energy and enthusiasm and my youngest's quiet curiosity.

When I'm considering making an image, I have three key elements in mind: light, composition, and moment.

Composition - In this case, composition was my first consideration. I wanted a wide shot that showed as much of the room as possible. After setting up my tripod, I used the windows and the walls to create a frame for the action.

Moment - My youngest son and I were relatively stationary. I have several sweet shots of the two of us reading and playing on the mattress. But this one is my favorite because of the element of interruption from my eldest. He's mid-stride, both feet suspended in the air and my younger son and I are both turned to watch him, smiling.

Light - While the light is important here, it is a typical light for me. I can rely on the afternoon light coming through these windows and shoot here often for that reason. I love how it catches my son's body and brings my eye to the action first before other elements in the scene.

What would make this image more successful? Part of improving the skill of making storytelling images is noticing what could be better and factoring that into future situations. Here, while I chose a narrow aperture to account for our movement within the frame, we're still not quite in focus. Focus for self-portraits can be a bit hit-or-miss, so choosing a narrow aperture, when possible, helps make missed focus less obvious.

I look forward to sharing more of my process behind making storytelling images next month!

Want to learn how to document your own family's day-to-day?  Check out 4 Steps to Stop Time and Savor the Moment with Your Family.  It's a simple and fun guide to documenting your family's life with beautiful photographs.

Storytellers' Circle - May | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

One of my favorite things about documentary family photography is the challenge of telling a story through pictures.  Ideally, the viewer should be able to look at the picture and understand what is taking place and/or be moved to some emotion.  I love cute pictures of my kids (just check out my Instagram feed!), but my favorite images, and I feel my best images, are the ones I have to work hard for.  A great picture is the result of multiple decisions made by the photographer about how to best show the scene they see and tell the story in a way that emotionally connects with the viewer.  This challenge is what keeps me pulling out my camera on an almost daily basis.

This post is part of the Storytellers blog circle, a group of documentary family photographers from all over the world, who come together monthly to post one image and explain the choices they made that take it from a simple snapshot to more profound storytelling. Continue the circle by checking out Rebecca Hunnicut Farren’s May image.

There's a short period in babyhood (aren't they all short periods?), where you can plop a baby down with minimal interference (and a few toys or pots and pans) and he'll entertain himself for some time. This times comes when he's safely sitting up on his own but hasn't quite learned that he can go places with those little legs and arms. This picture is that time. In pretty light. 😁

When I'm considering making an image, I have three key elements in mind: light, composition, and moment.

Light - I love the afternoon light that comes through our front windows. It casts beautiful shapes on the floor that stretch and very in intensity as the sun sets. I exposed for those highlights here, resulting in deep shadows around the rest of the frame. This technique is useful to minimize any clutter that's lying around your subject. Always a hazard with kids in the house.

Composition - I stood on my tippy toes to shoot from this perspective. I knew I was shooting for deep contrast and I wanted to incorporate the patterns on the rug to add visual interest. I also used the lines of the light/shadow to lead to my subject.

Moment - Once I was positioned, I only had time for a few frames before my son crawled away. This one was my favorite because it shows movement and I love how his hand and legs are touched by the light.

What would make this image more successful? Part of improving the skill of making storytelling images is noticing what could be better and factoring that into future situations.  In this case, I would have liked to bring in a chair so I could get higher and shoot directly down. Or alternately, I would have liked to see more of his face as part of this moment.

I look forward to sharing more of my process behind making storytelling images next month!

Want to learn how to document your family's everyday?  Check out 4 Steps to Stop Time and Savor the Moment with Your Family.  It's a simple and fun guide to documenting your family's life with beautiful photographs.

Storytellers' Circle - April | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

One of my favorite things about documentary family photography is the challenge of telling a story through pictures.  Ideally, the viewer should be able to look at the picture and understand what is taking place and/or be moved to some emotion.  I love cute pictures of my kids (just check out my Instagram feed!), but my favorite images, and I feel my best images, are the ones I have to work hard for.  A great picture is the result of multiple decisions made by the photographer about how to best show the scene they see and tell the story in a way that emotionally connects with the viewer.  This challenge is what keeps me pulling out my camera on an almost daily basis.

This post is part of the Storytellers blog circle, a group of documentary family photographers from all over the world, who come together monthly to post one image and explain the choices they made that take it from a simple snapshot to more profound storytelling. Continue the circle by checking out Danielle Navratil's April image.

It can be pretty difficult these days to get all of our family in the frame.  And while we're not quite all there (just missing another cat and me!), I really loved this image.  Both my sons were interacting with the dog and cat and I love how the animals are watching my older son with a wary eye for what he'll do next.

When I'm considering making an image, I have three key elements in mind: light, composition, and moment.

Light - I love shooting in this room.  The windows face west, so I'm able to get a range of light here throughout the day.  In the morning, when this image was taken, the light is soft.  By exposing for the highlights on my dog's face, I was able to get deep shadows under the couch and in the background, which helps to minimize distractions in what is a pretty busy image.

Composition - The first images I took of this scene were further away, squared up with the windows and showing the whole couch.  After a few shots there, I realized I wasn't getting what I was going for, which was a composition that conveyed a little more intimacy and chaos.  So I moved closer and focused on the relatively stationary subject of my dog and let the action happen around her.

Moment - Once I was positioned, I only had time for a few frames before both my sons lost patience and the moment was over.  Of the few frames I got, this was my favorite.  Both the dog and cat are looking at my older son and you can make out just enough of him to know he's energetic and on the move.  

What would make this image more successful? Part of improving the skill of making storytelling images is noticing what could be better.  In this case, I wish the moment were stronger.  While my husband is engages with my younger son, he's a bit "in between." In earlier frames, he'd been trying to get the dog and cat's attention, but he was almost out of patience for this activity in this image.

I look forward to sharing more of my process behind making storytelling images next month!

Want to learn how to document your own family's day-to-day?  Check out 4 Steps to Stop Time and Savor the Moment with Your Family.  It's a simple and fun guide to documenting your family's life with beautiful photographs.

Playing with light | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

There are a variety of triggers that give me the urge to pick up my camera when I'm with my family. Most often, it's a combination of inspiring light and some activity. For daily shooting, my favorite times to shoot are when the boys are snuggling or reading in bed with my husband.  This usually coincides with the pretty morning light that comes through our bedroom windows. Often that's the only time of day when there's not too much other things going on for me to grab the camera for at least a few shots.

Now that longer days are here, I've been reminded how much I also love shooting the afternoon light that comes through the windows at the front of our house.  It's mostly where our dog sleeps and the couch is covered in her hair, so we don't use it as often as we used to before we gave up trying to keep her off the couch.  But my son doesn't mind the dog hair and enjoys practicing his "tricks" jumping between the couch and the ottoman.

On this day, it was a perfect marriage of pretty light and a fun, quintessentially childhood, activity. I spent a happy half hour watching my son jump around. Shooting into the light can be difficult to expose for, so taking time to adjust your settings until you get the look you're going for is key. It's easy to lose your subject and other details in the bright light, but it's fun to play around with different exposures for a mix of haze, sun flare, and dramatic rim light. I shot around 80 images and got 8-9 good images where my son is in focus, the composition is favorable, and the light adds to the story.  Here are my favorites.

Want to learn how to document your own family's day-to-day?  Check out 4 Steps to Stop Time and Savor the Moment with Your Family.  It's a simple and fun plan for documenting your family's life with beautiful photographs.

Storytellers Circle - March | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

One of my favorite things about documentary family photography is the challenge of telling a story through pictures.  Ideally, the viewer should be able to look at the picture and understand what is taking place and/or be moved to some emotion.  I love cute pictures of my kids (just check out my Instagram feed!), but my favorite images, and I feel my best images, are the ones I have to work hard for.  A great picture is the result of multiple decisions made by the photographer about how to best show the scene they see and tell the story in a way that emotionally connects with the viewer.  This challenge is what keeps me pulling out my camera on an almost daily basis.

This post is part of the Storytellers blog circle, a group of documentary family photographers from all over the world, who come together monthly to post one image and explain the choices they made that take it from a simple snapshot to more profound storytelling. Continue the circle by checking out Andrea Moffatt's March image at Little Story Studio.

This image is one of my favorite recent ones, despite, and perhaps because of, there being no faces.  It was an unseasonably warm day in Northern Virginia and my husband, son, and I were taking the dog for a walk.  My son was full of energy and I'd taken advantage of many photo opportunities along the walk already.  When I saw the lines from the shadows of the fence created by the mid-afternoon sun, I knew I had to try to incorporate them into an image.  This frame is one of many that I took that day and while there were a few others that were successful in depicting the story in different ways, this was the one that resonated with me most because there is just enough of my son's legs at the corner of the frame to show his energy and love for climbing and my husband and I are present as shadows that are encouraging his exploration (and documenting it at the same time).

When I'm considering making an image, I have three key elements in mind: light, composition, and moment.

Light - Light was the simplest to factor in here.  Mid-afternoon sun isn't the most inspirational light, so I just had to make sure to expose for the highlights. I later brought up the shadows in Lightroom to give detail to those areas.

Composition - Composition was the most fun.  I loved the grid that the fence shadow created on the ground and after watching the shadows our bodies were casting, I knew they were strong enough to stand on their own (i.e. not need a body visible to make the action in the scene clear).  I played around with attempting to get my son's entire body in the image, but wasn't able do to that without compromising mine and my husband's shadows.  In composing, I also had the full frame in mind.  I often shoot based on rule-of-thirds, but sometimes it's fun to play around with placing the subjects in other places, like the corner here.

Moment - Once I found a composition that worked, I just had to be patient and wait for the movements to come together so that it was clear what my son was doing AND so that my husband and I were both visible and our shadows weren't just blobs, but clear human forms. This took some trial and error as sometimes one of us moved in a way that made our shadow run into the lines of the fence.  Waiting for the right moment is often the hardest part of making an image for me.

What would make this image more successful? Part of improving the skill of making storytelling images is noticing what could be better.  In this case, I wish my form and the fact that I'm taking a picture (as you can see in my husband's form) were more apparent.  I also feel that the visual weight of the evergreen trees take the eye away from my son's legs in the corner.  If I were to re-edit, I might play around with the brightness and saturation in the trees to make them less noticeable.

I look forward to sharing more of my process behind making storytelling images next month!

Want to learn how to document your own family's day-to-day?  Check out 4 Steps to Stop Time and Savor the Moment with Your Family.  It's a simple and fun plan for documenting your family's life with beautiful photographs.