DIL ~ Day in the Life photography ~ Personal session

Ok, friends! Time to start a blog here on my website. :) What better place to start than a Day In the Life photography assignment? It will give you a little snapshot of who I am, and what I'm trying to do with photography. 

One thing I LOVE to do, and will probably continue to do whenever I have time, is to take classes, workshops, breakout sessions, etc., to get some inspiration, learn new techniques, and continually improve in my photography. This will be a great place to post my assignments and link from my Facebook page. 

I'm currently taking a photography workshop on Clickin Moms right now called Finding the Classic Beauty in your Every Day with Meg Loeks. This week's assignment was to carry our cameras with us for one whole day, finding beauty and trying to capture it. It's the kind of assignment I LOVE, because it combines photography, art, and journaling into one project. Although I didn't get any favorite images out of it, it was great to start looking with fresh eyes, see a typical day through images, and capture some important things. My photos may not be my favorite artistically, but they all have a special place in my heart and document something real and beautiful to me. I've decided I will probably do a camera day once per month, and I'm sure it will be a great journal project as well as a way to see if I'm improving in my art. 

This particular day is Tuesday, October 3rd. Typical fall day.

This was the first photo I took. It was early in the morning, very dark, and everyone was just getting up and getting on with their day. The day before, Monday, October 2nd, was the day the Las Vegas shooting was all over the news. I have to admit, sometimes when horrible things like this happen, I ignore them. I feel very deeply about things like this, and sometimes I can't deal with them right away. I push it to the back of my mind and let it kind of sit there, waiting to be processed. So I hadn't read a single thing about the shooting all of Monday. On Tuesday morning, I felt like it was time. I wanted to know more about it, I wanted to read some stories, I wanted to let myself acknowledge it and deal with it. I was doing just that when Nora came and sat down on my lap, and I saw her face illuminated by the screen and decided it was my first shot. I only took one photo, because I wanted to preserve the moment, but not make it about photography, so it's not perfect, and it's definitely not flattering or beautiful in the way you'd think, but it was exactly the moment I wanted to preserve, and it captures my mood and the feeling of the experience. It's probably my favorite image of the day for this reason, and it set the tone for the rest of the photographs. We were also challenged to get in the frame this week, and I felt like this was the perfect time, even though I was in PJs and not ready for the day in any way. It adds to the story.

This image is of my daughter and her friend Summer waiting for their carpool. I just loved the soft cool morning light. This window is usually blown out completely when I shoot near it, so I liked how you could really see out to the road and the neighborhood. It also shows their little friendship that is strong and volatile, like sisters.

I call this one "Battle Stations." My favorite time of the day is when I've finally got everyone off to school and settled, and I have a minute (sometimes just a minute) to sit down and plan my day in my meticulously designed daily planner. My pot of Crio Bru is handy at all times, of course. Usually the sun is shining in warm and beautifully, and I find a sunny spot to sit and figure out my day. My puppy Luna decided to join me, and she is welcome as long as she doesn't ruin the moment. I didn't feel like she ruined the shot. :)

I teach a preschool gymnastics class in my home, and this morning was one of my gym days. I always have the kids draw a picture on the chalk wall over their name, in case they don't know what their name looks like and they need to remember where to sit when I tell them to go to their spot. :) I love this cute girl's long ponytail and hand on the wall.

I also took this one to actually show some action during gym! I didn't quite use a fast enough shutter speed, but it captures the feeling of the moment.

Battle stations part 2? HA! After gym, I decompressed with another cup of Crio and some social media.

My office/library is where I spend a LOT of my time during the day, especially when I'm editing. It's my favorite room in the house (closely followed by my bedroom), and I wanted to show its inviting beauty. 

My view FROM my office is also important, especially since it currently features a tee pee. :)

I'm kind of a homebody, and don't usually venture out for an actual outing unless someone invites me along. My sis Elise makes it a habit of going to IKEA on Tuesdays for kids eat free day. So, we grabbed our preschoolers, met up with my parents, picked up my brother who works a block away from IKEA, and got our meatballs. :)Is there any question about where we are in this picture?

I took lots of "artsy" photos of the aisles and displays at IKEA, but they didn't tell a story, unlike this one. This could be titled, "Every Preschooler at IKEA. Ever."

I was trying to get her reflection, but she was too fast, which is also a story. I love the tape measure in her hand. :)

My puppy has been an enormous presence in my life for the last several months. I never expected to be a pet person, but my children--especially my son on the autism spectrum--are terrified of animals. Nothing to be done about that except constant exposure. So after warming up with a cat, when the opportunity to be a guardian family for a breeding dog for our neighbors came up, we took it. (She is our dog, but this family will breed her 4 times.) It has been challenging and time consuming, and she's still very spunky, but we love her. I walk her several times a day and do some training, so I needed this to be part of my day.

HAHA! I just thought it was cool that I caught her little yawn.

I was driving my Jane to her piano lesson, and Nora climbed in the front seat and hung her little self out the window. Since I couldn't drive anywhere, I took pictures. :)

Another little still life. My mom gave me this little succulent and it sits by my sink. Sometimes she takes it away and prunes it and adds things, like these little shells. :) It's just cheery.

I always love the reflection of Jane's hands in the piano during her lesson. 

My Nora takes baths at all times of the day. And in my bath. Silly girl. She was playing peekaboo with her cute toes just then, so I grabbed the shot.

While I was meeting a friend to walk dogs (again), my girls were out playing at the park just before golden hour. Luckily I had my camera handy, of course, and got some cute shots of them together. (Apparently, I hardly saw my teenage boys on this day!)

I don't love anything I got at Costco, but I wanted to document that I actually had my camera out the whole time we were shopping! :) This was a little date night for our monthly restock at Costco with my husband. 

Of course, since we were at Costco, and buying a pizza for the kids, I got some sushi for myself and ate it on my cute sushi plate hand made by my wonderful college friend, Anne. (I guess I enjoy a bottom-left composition, I found out throughout this day. Not to self: next time, try something new.)

Although I LOVE my room and my bed, I didn't take any photos of my very end of the day, because I just needed some actual down time without kids or cameras. :) Also, there was a giant pile of laundry needing to be folded on my floor, and that was NOT artistic. So that is the end of my day! 

Great exercise! I recommend it to everyone, even if you only use your phone camera to do the documenting. It definitely made a difference in my day when I was on the lookout for beauty. I think it may even be more powerful when I'm doing it truly for myself and not an assignment. Look for the beauty in your every day, and it might just help you see it when life feels dark and hopeless, like it did to me at the beginning of the day. :)

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