family photojournalism :: the sellers family

You'll remember that this past weekend this family was also featured in blog post about a fun experiment I roped my poor husband into doing with me, in which we took a look at how much of a difference a professional photojournalist makes compared to attempting to document your family life yourself with your entry level DSLR. So if you missed that, go have a look.

Now let me properly introduce and blog about these beautiful people! This is my brother Justin, his wife Marguerite, and their three kiddos Claire (6), Anja (4) and Sam (7 months). These are siblings who are also friends and heros in my life. Both Justin and Marguerite live with incredibly thoughtful intention, giving themselves quietly and often to serve others, practice hospitality in the most natural and generous way, and work diligently at their professions, while also parenting their kids with gentle boundaries and lots of affection. I couldn't be more fond of them, nor more grateful for them in my life. 

On this particular evening, there was nothing unusual at all going on. Just dinner prep, eating dinner together outside, cleaning up the kitchen (each girl has their role to play), playing on the floor and in the front yard, eating popsicles, giving baby brother a sink bath before bed, reading books and cuddling, putting on pajamas and brushing teeth. And in all this really normal stuff there's so much life and such personality in these kiddos. I invite you to come along and spend this evening with this family of 5. 

personal :: a snow day

i took one look out the window this morning and declared it a snow day. which meant we would not even try to go anywhere today, we would stay in our jammies as long as we wanted (or, if not jammies, then our snuggliest clothes), and we would do special things like make hot chocolate and eat a pot roast for dinner. 

one thing i love about this house we now call home is the light in the winter months. it's brighter in here during the months when all the many trees that crowd our home on every side have lost their leaves, letting the dim bluish light of winter come unhindered through every window. 

and yesterday i got a new lens in the mail. the lens i have been dreaming of owning for such a long time, but which i haven't allowed myself to "splurge" on. really, though, it's a business expense, and this 35 mm f/1.4 lens will serve me SO well at births and in dimmer, in-home family photojournalism sessions. 

so between the beautifully-lit snow day spirit, and the acquisition of this new lens, i felt inspired to photograph my personal life for the first time in a long time. it's been a busy season of shooting for others, and that's left me little energy for telling the stories unfolding under my own roof. so today -- when it felt like joyful inspiration instead of duty -- i acted without delay and set about to shooting a sort of Day In The Life. however -- it should be noted -- i didn't start until after breakfast, because the idea didn't come to me immediately. :)

this snow day also contains guest appearances from our interns and boiler room community, whom came over from across the alley to help shovel this morning, and then again this afternoon for popcorn and tea. 

though you won't see ME in any of these images, you should know that i am the one behind the scenes who prepares meals, who snuggles and plays with my little ones, who tidies up the messes as they unfold, who watches through windows as this kids play in the yard, who changes diapers and clothing, and whose heart swells a million times a day with incredible love for this family i've been given. 

come join us for our snow day!

details i love and want to remember: hazel cutting up random things (in this case, the packing materials from my lens shipment), gus eating crayons, gus' cheesy grin that he's suddenly started flashing at the camera from time to time, hazel's deep delight in getting outside in all weather (and her new pink shovel that she used three times today to do "digging"), gus's obsession with stranding between the twin sinks upstairs and turning on the faucets of both simultaneously, hazel learning to draw shapes, how all the men in our community are bearded, the frequency of crockpot meals and fried eggs in this house, the laundry baskets that show up in the background of almost every scene, late-day meltdowns from the littles, and the inventive "office" set-up tim has created for himself in the living room. 

all is a gift. 

personal :: attention diverted

we became refugee foster parents this year, in a short-term transitional program. it has been one wild and incredible adventure. each time, the kids who come to us seem to have been specially chosen for us, and they become more of a blessing than a chore, though the work will always be challenging. 

but we've been in the thick of a particularly difficult placement the past week and a half. it's a placement which draws to a close this weekend, if all goes as planned. and this has taken every ounce of energy i can muster, has brought me to the end of myself and reduced me to tears more times than i care to tally up.

meanwhile, i miss this space, miss dreaming about photography and documenting my own family life, as well as photographing others. i'm glad to know that i can give a bit more to those things again quite soon. i think we'll take the rest of the summer off from foster care.

tonight i'm off to South Haven to photograph a rehearsal dinner in a candid, photojournalistic way for a delightful bride. and on Sunday, it's the second Milk Time : A Unique Photo Event for Breastfeeding Mamas, which is nearly, but not quite, sold out. Particularly right now, when I'm running on empty in the foster parenting department, these opportunities to get out for a bit, seeing and celebrating the connections and love between others, camera in hand... well, that's serious self care. it's my therapy.

and, just because a post without a photo is hardly a post at all, here's a recent shot of my little family sharing a meal on the front porch, between our last two foster care placements. love them so.

so, what's going on in your corner of the world?

happy first day of summer!

personal :: birthday adventuring

hazel has been looking forward to her birthday for fully six months. having no real grasp of time, every time anyone's birthday was happening, she would think it was also hers. we tried to explain that it would be her turn when there were leaves on the trees and the weather turned warm, which had limited success. 

at last, her very own birthday arrived. ever since this winter, she has been consistently asking for cake, balloons, and a kite... at the beach. so we determined that we would make those things the backbone of her birthday this year, in lieu of a party or gifts. and, since she is also interested in trains, and tim discovered that the Amtrak station in St. Joseph is right across the street from the beach, we decided we'd get there via train. to put the icing on the cake, we invited her cousins, aunt and uncle, gaba (grandma) and great aunt to meet us at the beach.

it was a gift of a day. hazel was ceaselessly overjoyed, which meant that we were, too, of course. and after returning home, she told anyone who would listen, "hey, know what? it's my birthday right now! i'm 3!"

i invite you to come along, virtually, on our adventure day... beginning from the moment she woke up... and ending with the moment she fell asleep again (en route back home). 

it's so fun to do these mini visual stories for my own family, though my one regret is that it usually means i'm absent from the images (ah, the plight of the photographer-mama!). but that's why YOU might want to consider having some like me come on over and tell one of your family's stories with my camera. so that, for once, you an also be in the photo-documentation of those stories. i'm serious! do it! :)

personal :: long days, short years (Part 1)

"the days are long, but the years are short," someone(s) told me about mothering. i’ve found it to be so very true. some days are downright ETERNAL, and as both my children are simultaneously melting down and hanging around my neck, making impossible-to-decipher demands, i catch myself wishing it away. the hardest thing for me about become a mom was (and is), hands down, the loss of personal space and time. it is in that department that motherhood feels most sacrificial for my introverted self. likewise, it is also the centerpoint of much of my daydreaming (ah, it would be so nice to have the day to set up however i choose, engaged in various creative projects, reading novels, journaling and lingering in prayer, running errands alone....)

but my firstborn will be 3 in just about six weeks and those 3 years have flown by. how can it be that this firecracker of a girl is nearly 3?! her baby fat is already melting and her body is getting more proportional like a KID. she’s a kid. i have to face it. 

today i’m thinking about this phenomenon -- the short years and long days thing -- in connection with photography. i’m feeling very glad that the photographs i have from these short years built of long days are the kinds of photographs that they are: photojournalistic, storytelling images. i know that i’d be disappointed if i didn’t have those images of disheveled children playing on dirty floors, and if instead all i had were collections of pretty pictures of manicured, stiff kids posing grudgingly in a studio. because the latter would tell me virtually nothing about the personhood of my littles, or the fleeting characteristics of their babyhoods and toddler years. oh, man. i’d be so sad. 

i like Smile Sessions and Mini-Sessions... i love them. i love to shoot them, and they yield frame-worthy images, images you can send to grandparents and get rave reviews. but i hope they won’t be all. i hope they won’t serve as the primary documentation of the families i do them for. i hope hope hope that they are either learning how to use a camera in order to do the job of catching all those ordinary, sacred, messy, and fleeting moments and details at home, OR that they will consider letting me (or some other gifted visual storyteller) come into their home every so often to tell those stories. 

Family Photojournalism sessions yield storybook-worthy images. which is why these sessions include such book. :)

friends, we only get to do this once. they will only be 2 once, and only for a blink. 

well, now that i’ve got that off my chest, here are some of my family’s own cherished photojournalistic style photos from the last year. 

first, a Hazel-centric collection...

I'll post a collection of images of Gus' past year in a few days!

family photojournalism :: the verwys family

a [long] while back, i submitted a photo session to an auction benefiting a cause related to birth education and alternatives in the greater Grand Rapids area. Emily won that auction, much to her delight. she was giddy, which made me feel great. still, it took about a year to finally get the session on the books, as we waited for the birth of her daughter and the renovations of their new home to occur. finally, the day arrived. 

i walked into their amazing, totally unique space and watched them all play together happily for about an hour. they had a family dance party, played on the floor, read books, baked cookies, and cuddled in their hammock. i did this session in the family photojournalism style, because i had [rather easily] persuaded emily to let me do it that way. :)

two daughters looks like lots of fun, doesn't it?! not that i'd trade my son in for a second daughter. ;)