How to Take Pictures of Your Kids (Part 1: Mindset)
This is a weird title for a blog post, because obviously, all you have to do to take a picture of your kid is point your phone at them and press the camera button. I’m not talking about the technical aspect of taking pictures of your kids, though (at least not in this post). I’m talking about how to get in the headspace that’ll allow you to document your life with your kids while both living in the moment and thinking about the future.
A Full Day in the Life Session in Taipei
The irony is that when it comes to documentary family photography, it’s really true that the more time I have to spend with a family, the better. Of course I can capture some beautiful/funny/true moments in as little as two hours, but they’ll always be a smaller slice of a bigger (and delicious!) pie. This is why I call my 2-hour sessions “A Glimpse.” When I’m with a family for a longer time, this is what happens:
5 Tips for Organizing and Enjoying your Photos in the Age of Digital Clutter
Always, the key is to make finding and seeing your photos as frictionless as possible. If it’s too hard or overwhelming for us to revisit our favorite memories, we just won’t do it. Remove some of those barriers and take a few easy steps that make it easier for you and your loved ones to engage with the story of your lives. It’s so worth it!
Kicking off the new year with a travel documentary family photography session!
I love noticing and making art out of the rhythms of home life because “home” is a story we all know and are shaped by, so I’m as surprised as anybody by how much I love documenting these adventures that families go on when they come to Taiwan. There’s still so much to notice—relationships, touches, glances, rolled eyes, actions and reactions, exhaustion, wonder. People are who they are even when they’re not in their usual environment. If home is a story that’s more about the characters than the setting, then it’s a story that can be told anywhere.
Photographing a Special Birthday Party in Taipei
There was slime, there was cake being slammed into faces, and there was a cat eating things that clearly weren’t food (and liking it!). There was also a lot of hugs.
Family photography at the Jianguo Flower Market, Ximending, and other crowded places.
I love that clients who value similar things find their way to me—I end up working with some very adventurous people! Here are some photos from a recent documentary photography session that, over the span of two hours, covered: Daan Park, the Jianguao Flower Market, the Jianguo Jade Market, the MRT, and Ximending. These are storytelling photos that incorporate places in Taipei that are important to them, but they also can’t help but be beautiful family photos. Photos with a group of people who love each other always are.
Year in the Life: An entire year of storytelling with family photos.
It’s the most satisfying kind of work to be invited into a family’s inner circle and be trusted enough to help them see and remember themselves. I hope the photobook I hand them at the end of the year will be a kind of mirror, and that they’ll see the best parts of who they are together reflected back.