Day In The Life | Beloved Photography | January 2017
I've never been one to sit still, I always have something I'm aiming for, a new goal, a new adventure I'm planning, something on my to do list, and generally it is something I love about myself. I love that I am always striving to be a better person and not settling into the same old habits and getting myself into a rut. However sometimes this need to always be doing something makes me miss the moment I'm in. For example, I don't really love our house at the moment...the main bathroom makes me crazy, the color of the carpet upstairs is gross, and I want to update the trim in the entire house, don't get me started on the landscaping the previous owners left us with....the list could seriously go on forever. It wasn't until summer of 2016 that I learned to start loving my imperfect house and embracing this season in our lives. We have two beautiful kids and another on the way, our marriage is strong, we are healthy, and we are still young. We are building our careers, creating memories with our kids, and I refuse to focus so much on what needs fixed and miss what is right in front of me.
My friend Leah from Columbus Birth & Parenting posted some amazing pictures that she had taken of her family and I was immediately inspired. Her photos were all just a day in the life - I don't remember seeing one posed photo in all that she shared. I immediately reached out to Leah to get the contact info for the photographer who did this for her and reached out to chat a bit. I really enjoyed getting to know Amy over the phone. We spoke for about 45 minutes and it was all so natural, I felt like if I was going to let anyone into my imperfect house to capture some very real moments, with the people I love the most, it had to be her. We decided to schedule for a weekend day so that my husband would be home and we wouldn't have to be anywhere - it was seriously effortless. My house was the very basic level of clean (not mom level clean - but also not gross), I was in my normal sweatpants, the kids dressed themselves like usual, and we just hung out like we normally do on the weekends. There were a few moments that my kids weren't sure what to do - I wanted them to play like a normal day but they didn't want to miss out on any action because they really loved Amy so I had to encourage them to take her to see their toys. Even with that I still feel like Amy captured them playing naturally in their rooms like any other day.
I don't know about you and your family but my husband is not a photo guy, he gets stressed out over spending money on something that may or may not turn out because the kids are being divas, which to be fair our kids are. Any fan of Friends on here? Both of my kids (and my husband) have a total Chandler smile when a camera is put in front of them. You have to be a really skilled photographer to get a genuine smile out of any of them. However this documentary style photography was totally meant for my husband - he got to play video games and Legos with the kids in jeans and a t shirt while getting his picture taken and his wife was happy. It was like a triple score for him.
Let's get down to the pictures - Amy with Beloved Photography captured such amazing moments for us, from the kids helping me with dinner, to the crazy contraption E came up with using two horses and a guitar, and O loosing PieFace Showdown. I'll let you see for yourself - and if you're interested in documentary photography I highly recommend you speak with Amy. She has such a passion for this type of photography and is happy to just live life with you. She mentioned being happy to hop in the car with us and take photos wherever - a trip to Target, school drop off/pick up, she's good with it all. Enjoy our photos and share your thoughts in the comments! Would love to hear if this is something you would feel comfortable doing.
