Telling Our Story in Pictures

Yesterday I was reading about a photographer that doesn't do normal portrait sessions. She offers instead a day in the life kind of thing. She gets to her clients house really early and photographs whatever they do throughout the day from breakfast and playtime to dinner and the kids evening baths.

Maybe because I love the way pictures tell a story but I loved this idea. I'd love to shoot a day like that...the bits and pieces of everyday beauty that make up our lives.

I think this is why we, everybody in general, love to look at pictures. It reminds us of chapters of our stories.
This is why we take the pictures in the first place, isn't it? So that we can read the story over and over again? So we can relive our favorite parts over and over, pointing to a moment caught in time saying, "Remember when..."

So do it. Hire someone or just grab a camera. Take good pictures and some not so good pictures. But illustrate your story, your family's story. Not just the special days like birthdays and weddings but the normal everyday it's only special because it's us days. You won't regret it.

Strolling through some of my old pictures and they tell the story of a budding new photographer who just got a camera in her hands and has no real idea of what to do with it. Selective color ~ just say no.

Good gracious I love this man.

I see pictures of the two of us, of him, and I read a tale of love and redemption. 

Pictures of my kids speak of chapters on love, learning, hilarity and silliness, frustration, first times, success and failures, and the list goes on and on.

She wasn't as thrilled as her brother to be feeding the birds.

Little I love you's have always been part of our life. Claire is the first one to make it a game about the number of people in our family. Every time we leave or she goes to bed it's the I love you sign followed by two fingers for me and Daddy, the I love you sign followed by all five fingers for all of them, the I love you sign again with the word seven to complete the circle. Every now and then Rob will try and throw her off by saying something like "I love you, eleventy billion!" which prompts a giggle.

They always manage to have fun together.

Part of her story will be how much she looks like her father.

I have probably taken hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of my kids. For some reason this one is my absolute favorite. One of these days I just might make a big ol' canvas print.

She's a runner. Actually she just enjoys  exercise in general. This was the day she ran her first 5k.

Sweet sixteen.

She's the hardest on of them to photograph. I guess because I just want to capture the sweetness of her gentle heart and that seems nearly impossible.

But I can get her being goofy!

His story gets a little complicated sometimes mainly because it has the footnote of autism. But he adds a lot of happiness and laughter to our story with his quirkiness. He is quite the character.

And the charmer.

Looking through these, rereading parts of our story is bittersweet...they've all grown up so much! I can't wait to see the story unfold in the years to come.

I think it might time to update our story book a little this weekend...wonder if I can talk them into a photo session?

Sharing with Photo Story Friday (if you only click through one link it should be her's...the pictures are just fabulous!) 1440 and the No Rules Blog Party.