family photojournalism :: the kent family

selina moved out to Portland from Wisconsin after high school to pursue her music studies and spread her wings a bit. it was there that she met fellow wisconsinite graeme, who had relocated to the area about a decade before her. funny that they had to move across the country to find one another, but isn't that how it seems to go?

now this pair is building a life together filled with music and reading, cooking, church life, sharing a pipe on the porch, being amused by their cat, home improvement projects on their apartment, keeping up with studies and start-ups, and having long walks in which they stop to appreciate all the plants in their neighborhood. it's just the two of them for now, but they know that things like buying a home and having kids are in their future. so often people wait until they have kids to be photographed as a family, but selina shared with me that she wanted to freeze THIS season in time. she always enjoys hearing stories from her parents about their life before having children and has often wished that she could somehow SEE it. by doing a family photojournalism session, she and graeme will be able to satisfy the curiosity of their future children and show them who and how they were before they became parents. what a fantastic idea, yes?

spending an evening with these two was cozy and affectionate, full of sensory deliciousness and brimming with the energy of the dreams that they carry in their hearts. 

right now, wherever you are, whether you feel like you've "arrived" at some requisite spot on your life's timeline, it's worth documenting and keeping, tucking away for some future day when you'll say about THIS time, "ah, those were the good old days."

family photojournalism :: the N family

diana and jeff are so easy to be around. every time i see them, they treat me like a familiar friend. their very selves radiate natural hospitality, wherever they are. plus they're funny. and they're raising these three fantastically playful and joyful children. i'm so glad this isn't the first time and probably won't be the last time i've had the honor of photographing them in their natural habitat. 

here's a short little story about an afternoon at home with them. 

family photojournalism :: the howell family

in between the welcoming of a new baby and the hip surgery of their toddler, kim and her family invited me in to capture that delicate space of family in the spaces between the big changes. this is the time when things are relatively ordinary, where there is time to collect nature treasures,  jump on trampolines, feed the baby on the sofa, enjoy an apple recently picked at the orchard, and wrestle on the bed. this space in between the big changes are where we live 90% of the time. and that's what this story is about. 

enjoy this little sliver of life with the howells. 

on preparing for a family photojournalism session

yesterday our family was photographed by the talented suzanne gipson. she came and did a storytelling session in our home, photographing us as we went about all the usual sorts of activities: waking up from naps, drawing, playing trains, sitting on the front porch drinking lemonade, prepping dinner, tickling and wrestling on the bed, etc. etc. it was a session a lot like what i do for others, with one of the primary goals  being to keep things real and to create a snapshot of life as it is for our family in this particular season of life in our own context. 

when i do these sessions for others, i hope that they'll be able to relax and trust. i hope that they won't feel the need to get new clothes, and i certainly don't want them to coordinate the wardrobe amongst the entire family. i hope they'll leave some of their messes visible and not compulsively clean up all evidence that a real, living and breathing family lives in their home. i hope that they will somehow supernaturally be able to trust that not only will i not be put off by their imperfections but that i will also actually LOVE them; that i will be even more endeared to them for having been allowed to see and include their messes and their grown-out haircuts and their stained t-shirts. from where i stand -- which is behind the camera -- i am more than comfortable with their human-ness. 

so it was a little surprising to find in myself a compulsive desire to tidy up our house, to hide the objects that i don't really like, to get my son's hair cut, and to choose clothes carefully. confession: i actually even went to a resale store and bought "new" outfits for the kids. confession: hazel and gus both had haircuts the day of. confession: tim and i have been konmarie-ing the heck out of our house for weeks. confession: i put on some very light make-up (whereas usually i wear none). 

i was feeling a little embaressed about this. it was as if i couldn't practice what i was preaching to all my clients. i myself was having difficulty trusting that Suzanne could and would see beauty and make magic out of all our raw material.

but now i see that all these things -- the tidying/discarding, the haircuts, and the buying of some fall clothes -- needed doing anyway, and would have been done eventually. yet, we definitely were fueled toward getting them done quickly, with the due date being the date of our sessions. and maybe that's not all bad. as for the make-up... well, i'm justifying that one by saying it will make my face "pop" a bit more on film. ;)

here's the important thing: the way our family and our house looked the day Suzanne came to photograph us was not formed to match some idealized Pinterest board. the clothes and the haircuts were all characteristic of the style we tend toward and lifestyle that we live; they were not inauthentic.

a (raw, unedited) screen shot Suzanne sent me of one very real family moment from our session : the one in which Gus laid on top of Walt's head, while Hazel drove a train over his back. that's my arm in the top right, sweeping in to pull Gus off his brother's face lest he suffocate him. 

so maybe that's the main thing: to somehow stand determined to be who you really are as a family, even if that presentation is a TOUCH more put-together than it normally is. for if we try to become something other than what we are, we aren't really capturing family history at all, are we? the moment we try to conform ourselves to an idealized vision of Happy Family, that's the moment we start losing ground in the goal to record our family history, and to hold in a collection of images the unique and perfectly imperfect chaos of our real life.

i still sorta wish i had left a few more messes around for suzanne. and if i had it to do over, i might have skipped the make-up.

what is photojournalism?

you know it's my favorite way to shoot. my MO. it's what you can expect from me. 

sometimes it's called visual storytelling or documentary photography. i think both of those terms work, too. 

i tried to explain some of it HERE, and i suggest you read that. the photojournalism style is what you find in my life with a newborn and birth sessions, too. photojournalism is the place i've settled because it is the most authentic way i know to express the way i see and experience the world and the people in it.

but it's not the only way to shoot, nor have i always shot this way. sometimes, i still venture into other ways of photographing people. 

i've attempted to write up a little bit of a comparison between three genres of photography that are available to anyone wanting to hire a photographer these days to have their family photographed. i think it's helpful to know a little more about each genre, then to know what YOU want for YOUR family. then you can go out and find the photographer who can deliver it. 

please note: these are my opinions, and my personal take on the differences between them. i'm sure some people would talk about this a little differently or disagree with some of what i've written here. i also know that the three types sometimes flow in and out of one another, and so the lines can be blurry! 

with that said, here, to the best of my ability, is a CHART -- yes, i am a dork -- detailing the differences between Portrait, Lifestyle, and Photojournalism photography.

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an example of a PORTRAIT

an example of a LIFESTYLE photo

an example of PHOTOJOURNALISM 

so, just know that if you hire THIS photographer, you're going to get a whole lot of column C and sometimes a little bit of A or B, but even then it'll have a little bit of C flavor because I just can't help it. :)

i look forward to working with you to tell YOUR stories.

family photojournalism :: the debonis

for those who have the wisdom and presence to grasp it, every moment is a holy moment. and that's how life is at the deboni's home. from the moment i walked in the door, i could sense a joyful sacredness.

this family - jake, jess, and their three sweet children - savors life like the ripe raspberries and mulberries they picked and ate during our session. they grow their own food, they read rich books, they live simply, they shower one another with affection, and they are quick to laughter and forgiveness. also, they make a mean cup of cold brew. 

i could have happily stayed all day. 

and because words don't seem really adequate, i'll leave you with the pictures now. and there are many.