Oooo do I have something special to share! As you all know we love lifestyle shooting. We love documenting the milestones, the everyday, and the ordinary. We’ve always believed that the mundane is beautiful, that home provides some of the best spaces, and that photography can be much more about sentimentality than vanity. So far much of our work in this area has been with families in the traditional sense (newborns in the home, playing in the backyard, etc.). However, I’ve been craving sessions that a) maybe get a little more personal and b) celebrate other kinds of families.
I think maybe this idea came about from having beautiful photos made from our wedding and engagement. We felt crazy spoiled with amount of photos and we simply cannot stop staring at them. This amazing chapter in our lives has been so thoroughly and gorgeously documented that it’s hard not to want for more. I realize that may sound a little crazy or selfish. However it comes from a place of realizing that we had done very little documentation of our lives until we had the wedding to necessitate it. I had to wonder why? Why did it take this long?
Well, we were in a constant state of busyness and feeling of liminality. In our nearly 3 years of being engaged we moved twice, started a business, started new jobs, spent nearly all of our weekends traveling, gained weight, lost weight, gained it again. We love to work and be busy. We forgot the importance of slowing down and taking it all in. Maybe this sounds like your life, too?
We as a culture tend to think of professional photography as only necessary for life’s highlights: the weddings, the babies, the graduation, etc. However I find the day to day really beautiful.
I think the light that pours into our room in the mornings is beautiful. I think Ganer’s pile of dry cleaning is beautiful. I think the cat hair on the bed is evidence of Lune’s love and comfort with us (she wasn’t always that way). I love the wine glasses left out on the table because we are still at a place in our lives where we can relax together. I think walking around with bed hair and in underwear is beautiful. I think home is beautiful.
So these thoughts were in the back of my mind when Morgan and I started planning what was originally a boudoir part 2 shoot. She was one of my very first boudoir clients (and brides). They had moved away for some time but were back in Bowling Green so that her husband could work on another graduate degree. It was one day in barre class when I noticed a tattoo that wasn’t there before that we ought to update her photos. However in deciding in a location, I felt really drawn to working at her home. She explained that it was an apartment and despite a little uncertainty, trusted the choice.
You see, all you really need is window light and a space that means something to you to make some magic. The shoot was everything I wanted to capture and more. It was flirty, sexy, and personal. It was the intimate glimpse into the 20 something lifestyle that I feel is amazingly unique and beautiful. Her husband and two pups were able to join in which seriously elevated the sweetness of it all.
Long post, but here’s the point: no matter where you are in life, whether it’s celebrating a milestone or if you’re just trying to get through a time of transition– document it. Celebrate who you are and what home feels like. You may be living single in your first tiny apartment and your family is your cat. I think that’s rad. You may have recently moved in with your partner and you still have boxes to sort through. I think that’s rad. You may have just closed on a house. Or you may be recently married but in no rush to have kids. It’s all rad.
Thank you Morgan for letting me capture your everyday life of comfy sweaters, booty shorts, excited tiny dogs, tea, energy drinks, video games, dissertation writing, and cuddles.
I’d love to take a peek into your everyday life and show you just how beautiful it is. You never know how you’ll yearn for these times in the future.
