I don’t believe there to be one right way of doing things.  People are far too creative for that, and much too opinionated.  Photography for instance.  As I have delved into family photography (despite the fact that all has come to a screeching halt), I have discovered the boundless ways that a family can be captured through the simplicity of a photograph.  A photographer could chronicle a family baking cookies in their home (documentary), comfortably position family members in wispy tall grasses, perfectly situated in a sunlit field (lifestyle), create a studio session that requires full control, from where ones fingers are placed to the backdrop used (traditional), or even daydream like photographs where girls become princesses with fantastically vibrant eyes (whimsical).

So in this photography journey of mine I felt it only fair to not only myself, but you who have graciously allowed me to capture who you are through photographs, that I intentionally hone in on what it is about photography that excites me so that my full self can be in my work. Well, with this whole shelter at home season that we find ourselves in, I realized what that is.

You.

I know, seems a bit flimsy, but that’s really just it. The way you gaze at your spouse. The way you interact with your children. The way you smile when in each other’s company. You could say that there is one style of photography that fits the bill over another, and I still love those moments with you at sunset in green fields, but I do wonder if photography has become our longing to hold onto what we hope to be rather than who we truly are. 

Those moments that are captured with the lens should have never been intended to let us experience that which we don’t first find in our homes. Photography should be the means by which we capture the overflow of a life lived in engaging the eyes, in warm embraces, and in undistracted attention.

So all that to say, this is my ‘why’ behind photography.  Not because your life needs to be documented as some sort of proof that it happened or to give you pretty pictures to share that reflect a singular moment in time, or even to showcase what you hope to be, but because photographs are an emotion-filled, yet physical outpouring of who you are.  I am passionate about seeing you, and every family I have the privilege of photographing, thrive in the joy, the exhaustion, the engagement, the heritage that is family.  

On the first of every month I will be sending out a newsletter that I hope reads for you more like a journal.  Filled with simple ways to experience one another, and in a time when we have perhaps been made aware more so than ever before, the immense intentionality that family requires.  They will draw out of you your heart and mind and strength.  But when you sit embraced in the warmth of that summer sunlight, my camera will be the only thing unfamiliar to the familiarity of those around you.

– Jennifer