The Beginning of a “Year in the Life” Family Photography Project in Taipei

Sep 15

I feel a thrill every time I get to start a new Year in the Life project with a family because I know I’m about to get something that every documentary photographer craves: time!

A black and white image of a grandmother feeding her toddler grandson. The boy is sitting in a high chair with light shining on him from a window.

A color image of a grandmother feeding her grandchildren in front of a window in her living room in Taipei. Captured by family photographer Cahleen Hudson.

Time to photograph a variety of family interactions and relationships, including grandparents. I love photographing kids and their parents, but grandparents play their own special role in the family story. It’s a role that, usually, involves less responsibility and more fun, haha! But also such tenderness. Just look at how this grandmother is looking at her grandson. It makes my heart melt, and as a documentarian through and through, it’s important for me to know that this was a genuine moment that wasn’t staged in any way. Knowing that what I’m looking at is 100% real makes it more powerful for me.

A color photograph of a little boy looking up. There is a tatami mat with toys on it at his feet. Photographed by Cahleen Hudson during a home family photoshoot in Taipei.

A color photo of a toddler boy in his high chair. He has drool running down his shirt and there are toys scattered across the tray of his high chair.

Having more time also means that I can capture all of the ways that kids change over the course of a year. The copious amounts of drool will cease…

A close-up photo of a little boy's hands holding a toy truck as he sits on a sofa. Photographed by family photographer Cahleen Hudson in Taipei during a family photoshoot at home.

A toddler boy playing with a toy in front of a sliding glass door with light streaming through it. Photographed by Taipei family photographer Cahleen Hudson during a home session on Yangmingshan.

Their favorite toys will change.

A color photo of a mother grabbing her toddler son as he tries to crawl away. He has drool on his cheek and is wearing a Korean hanbok.

A toddler is wearing a traditional Korean hanbok and his mother and older brother are in the background. Photographed by family photographer Cahleen Hudson in Taipei.

Very soon, they won’t fit in that cute outfit that all of your kids wore when they were that age.

A little boy is playing in the dirt in his backyard in Taipei and focusing on a plant that he's holding. He is wearing a Korean hanbok.

A mother is holding her toddler son in their backyard in Taipei and another hand is reaching through the sliding glass door and wiping dirt off his mouth.

They’ll become less messy, and they might not find a piece of dead grass to be quite as fascinating as they once did.

A black and white photo of a father holding their toddler son, who is wearing a Korean hanbok. Captured during a home family photoshoot in Taipei.

A black and white photo of a couple playing with their toddler son in their living room in Taipei. There is a big window with light streaming in behind them.

Some things will never change. You’ll always be their parents and they’ll always be your kid. What will change is what that looks like during your day-to-day life. This is what we end up missing and want to look back on, so this is what I photograph. Not because I hate change and I think we should all live in the past, but because I think our past matters and makes us who we are.

These photos are from a first session for a quarterly Year in the Life project (4 sessions a year), and I like to think that by the time the year is up, I’ll have captured one small chapter of this family’s story for them to look back on together. I imagine my photos being conversation pieces at family gatherings, prompting laughter or gentle teasing. I hope people will say this is where we came from. This is what led us here.

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