[Another] Personal Project · My Summer In Pictures

Have you ever seen those amazing, mythical photographers that complete 365 projects? No? Me either! While I’ve known of many who have started or been in the midst of them, I can count on one hand the number I know who have finished them! For those of you who don’t know, a 365 project is where you take a photo every single day for a year and share it. I’ve been wanting to do one for awhile now, to document my childrens’ lives (they grow and change so fast). It sounds simple enough, but man is it HARD. It definitely challenges your creativity to shoot the same subjects every single day. Not to mention the time it takes to cull and edit all the pictures, again, every. single. day. But the end product is such a treasure and an accomplishment. At one point, I decided to do what I thought was more manageable: a 52 project. My abridged version of a 365… just one picture a week. Embarrassingly enough, I couldn’t even keep up with that!!

I’ve finally decided to attempt another abridged version – 100 days of summer. As my oldest, Phoenix, is leaving for college in the fall, I want to be sure I document as much as I can of my kids lives together, especially for the younger two, Cobalt and Isthmian. These next two months are the last few that they will all be living under the same roof (uninterrupted). Being 13 and 15 years apart in age, I hope my efforts will help them remember when their older sister lived with them. My stretch goal is to get at least one frame with all three of them in it each day, but there many days where my oldest is off with her friends and/or goes to work, and isn’t home until after the little ones are in bed.

Hope you enjoy this glimpse into my life and that it reminds and inspires you to document your own! xo Anna

Documentary family photography captures kids being kids, like this little girl sitting her teddy in his high chair to eat with her.
June 17: Father’s Day. My in-laws came and we spent the day outside in the pool. The kids swam for 9 hours straight! This is my littlest getting two of her stuffed dogs situated at the table for dinner.

 

Documentary style self-portrait. I set the camera up while we were all hanging out on the deck after dinner and captured my husband and I rocking and holding hands while our family at ice cream at the table.
All the kids: this was a self-portrait I took with everyone. Cole’s just sitting and eating his dish of ice cream, while Izzi has had a bowl, a cone, and is up and begging Phoe and McCauley for more!!

 

Documentary family photography captures the humor of our everyday lives. In this photo a grandfather helped his granddaughter get dressed, unsuccessfully. She doesn't seem to mind though!
June 18: My parents flew in today. The kids were in the pool again. When they got out, my dad helped my daughter put her dress on. She walked around like this for hours. Every time I’d try to fix it, she’d say, “Is O-tay, mom!”

 

Documentary family photography helps us to remember how things were. Like this photo of an older sister picking strawberries while her younger two siblings were eating them faster than she could pick them!
All the kids: one was picking, two were eating… not a very good ratio!!

 

Be sure to include grandparents in your documentary family session - the relationships between grandkids are grandparents are so important to document. Here a grandmother swings with her granddaughter and grandson.
June 19: We spent the day at the lake with my parents and some friends. Izzi went out on the kayak with me, but Cole wasn’t interested. After lots of playing in the sand and eating a good lunch, you two hung out on the swing with MeMe while PaPa napped nearby.

 

Capture the funny details of your everyday with a documentary family photographer. Here the back end of a cozy coupe truck is in view with the 4x4 license plate and you can see 4 feet pushing the truck below it.
June 20: 4×4, Flintstone style. Playing on the deck while waiting for dinner. I have no idea how you both fit in here?!

 

June 21: Summer solstice bonfire with friends! Hellllloooooo summer!!

 

All the kids: earlier in the day, they all crossed paths for a few moments before Phoe went to work.

 

Documentary family photography captures moments, not smiles. Here a graduate holds her baby brother as he give her a kiss.
June 22: Phoe graduated today! The first person she went for after the ceremony was ‘Mr. C’ as she calls him.

 

June 23: Rainy day today. And McCauley’s last day with us. We went to watch  Incredibles 2 at the theater. Izzi drank so much soda she had to leave to pee three times. The last time, Ben didn’t even bother coming back in, he just sat in the car with her. Cole made it through this movie without crying!! The only other movie he hasn’t cried through is ‘Land Before Time’.