Family Favorites - Year in Review | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

The end of the year is a great time for reflection.  2016 has been good.  I'm so grateful for my little family (+1 this year!) and for the wonderful families in Northern Virginia and D.C. who have embraced my documentary style of photographing their families' everyday moments.  Parents often don't get to see themselves in action, so it's wonderful to be able to show all the love and attention they pour into their family.  And I love preserving these moments for children, so who may be too young to remember now, but who will be able to look back at these images and catch a candid glimpse of themselves and what made their family special.

I could go on, but instead, I'll just share a few of my favorites from family sessions this year. :-) I'm looking forward to many more in 2017. Happy New Year!  

A Day in the Life of a Preschooler | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

Ever wonder what your child's day is like at school? My son attended the same preschool from the time he was four months old until his last day last week.  He started a new school after Labor Day and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to shoot a Day in the Life session at his preschool before he left. 

One of my favorite things about documentary photography is showing parents aspects of their lives that they don't usually see. Usually that's because they're the ones taking the pictures or living the moment. That's why hiring a photographer is a wonderful way to capture meaningful parts of your life that you live but don't necessarily see.

In this case, I get to show parents an aspect of their children's lives that they don't usually see because they're not there. And it was doubly fun for me because this is the second documentary session I've done at this school, so seeing the children's growth after a year was really a pleasure. 

Longer documentary sessions like this one (an eight hour session) can be hard to schedule around, especially for busy families. One solution is to break the session up into multiple days. For a family session, this could be shooting a morning routine or midday activity one day and then a bedtime routine in the evening the next day. This allows for a more complete story, and may be easier to schedule for families for whom an eight hour stretch is difficult to fit in.

For this preschool session, I was able to document a morning lesson, outdoor play, naptime, lunch time, and free play for multiple classrooms over the course of several days. The result is a full story of the children's day that gives parents a glimpse into a special part of their child's life. Any parent who has to spend time away from their children knows how it is to wonder what your child is up to while you're apart.

These are wonderful moments to have documented not just for parents but also for children. At this age, they often don't remember their time at preschool. But the love and dedication from their teachers is a wonderful thing to show to them as they get older. This time goes by so quickly and the care and lessons they receive now lay the foundation for a lifetime of learning and social interaction. 

Learn more about documentary sessions here. And sign up for my email list below to receive tips for capturing your own family's everyday.