personal :: the neighborhood taco cart

through this blog entry, you get to see some of my personal life. not the home/family life part (though that's also intertwined), but the part that is an urban missionary and pastor's wife. it is, therefore, more explicitly Christian than most of what i share in this space, but the photos tell a lovely story, whether you want to read the bits about the Kingdom of God or not. :)

i once heard it said that though your choice of a zip code does not have moral consequences, it does have consequences. and this i firmly believe: that in seeking first the Kingdom of God, where we choose to live matters, and that there is a mighty difference between living amongst the ones you are called to love versus dropping in to serve them for a few hours a week. which is why we own property here, and why we don't have a 5 year plan to move out. 

it is a slow, steady work. and much of it doesn't feel like work, it's just life. it's raising kids and taking walks and tending to the lawn and greeting neighbors and sitting on the front porch at dusk. there aren't magnificently transformative encounters on a daily basis, but you don't expect a miracle every day. instead, you trust that the cumulative effect of your presence will be life. you keep yourself attached to the one true vine, you hunker down amongst a people and a place that the Father shows you, and -- without looking back -- you just let your life unfold there, openly. 

it's the ministry of presence. 

and slowly, over years, this place becomes no longer "other," it becomes yours. 

in the place where we've hunkered down, there is this taco cart, run by the exclusively spanish-speaking and remarkably talented cocinera (cook) Maria, and her son Oscar. and this taco cart is now our taco cart. it's a mere block and a half from our house, in the driveway of Maria. it's open only on weekend nights, and only during the warm weather season. tacos are $1.75 each, and they are to die for. it's a weekend tradition from may through september. i am weirdly proud of this place, and a little protective.

but i want to show you this favorite spot of mine, nestled in the middle of our run-down neighborhood. and if you want to know how to find it, send me a private message. :)

here is the story in which my family -- along with our foster kids and a couple friends -- make a saturday evening visit to Maria's taco cart... 

personal :: a breakfast story

this month i decided to invest a bit in my own growth as a photographer. so i enrolled in molly flanagan's visual storytelling class at the define school. i knew that in some ways it wouldn't be revolutionary, since the art of family photojournalism is one i've been practicing for a while, and offering to clients. but molly is tremendous, and under her teaching i've been happily stretched by her perspective, her wit, her humility, and the way that she clarifies the art of telling a story with pictures. the homework assignments have been invitations to slow down and really examine my process, what i'm doing and why. i'm learning to be more careful, more sparing in the number of shutter clicks, more intentional in how i compose an image so that each has purpose.

for my week 4 homework assignment, i had to tell as story in 20 images or less. so... 

this is the story of our weekly breakfast with [some of] the stockbridge boiler room core leadership team and vision course student, in which we eat pancakes, drink coffee, worship jesus, and are happily interrupted a million times by our kids. 

thanks for listening to my story. i'd be delighted if you'd allow me to tell one of YOUR stories in 50-75 images. :)

personal :: long days, short years (Part 2)

it wasn't long before Gus was born that i settled into my "signature style," which is what we photographers call the combination of shooting and editing that we consistently do to achieve a consistent look that clients will associate with our "brand." i've been happy for this, because it means that -- unlike hazel's life -- Gus' life thus far has been documented in a pretty cohesive style. 

but that's not really as important as that it is documented at all. it's actually neat to look back through past work, before i settled into my signature style, and be able to recall my own growth as a person and as a photographer over those months and years. 

mom's don't get to be IN the picture very often, but we can get clues about ourselves by looking at the photos we've taken through  a different perspective. see, the subject of the photograph is only part of the story; the one who is seeing and showing the subject is the other part. it will be interesting, years from now, to see not only this record of my childrens' growth, but of mine as well. 

one other thought: in my last post about "long days, short years," i wrote about the limitations of Smile and Mini-Sessions. i fear i may have cheapened them. i didn't mean to. see, i think they're great. in fact, i try to put a little bit of that "portrait" element into each photojournalism session i do, too. conversely, i always try to put a little photojournalism into my portrait sessions, by capturing the moments in between the poses and "cheeses." so that flavor runs through every type of session that i do. 

but...

without further ado or more random thoughts, i offer you what you really came here for: a small selection of Gus' first year, photojournalistic style. 

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!

'round here

our kids are nearly-3 and 1 years old. there is abundance of life -- messes, laughter, screeching, falls, triumphant firsts, hugs and kisses, and all the rest -- that comes along with living with tiny people. and one of the most satisfying hobbies i have is photographing that life. i use my iPhone a lot these days, but remain committed to breaking out the Big Camera relatively often, too.  i'm hoping that what this hobby accomplishes is the creation of a photographic record of their childhoods, of my marriage, of our home and our people. this feels important, not optional, nor merely fun. 

which is where the nudge for teaching the Light and Life workshop comes in, I guess. i want others to know how to do this for their own families, too. tell your story, people. you will never regret it. 

anyway, here's a random sampling of recent life at the Collier house (really, just at our own house).