Documenting Family on Vacation

I thought I knew what I would be photographing when I started documenting families: people at home among their things and their routine; wanting to preserve a slice of life while they were in their element. What I didn’t expect was how many people would hire me to document their families while they were out of their element, crammed in a hotel room with underwear drying on a shower curtain and suitcases that looked like they had projectile vomited diapers and onesies across the room.

A mother reaches into her suitcase with her baby daughter and older son on the bed in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan.

Family of four gets ready in a hotel room in Taipei, taiwan.

A young boy lies on a window sill looking at his father and baby sister on a bed in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan.

As soon as I walked into that first hotel room, though, the trappings of family life on the road were instantly recognizable to me. I’ve been there too, you see! I’ve also dragged a giant jug of water from the nearest 7-11 to the hotel so that I wouldn’t have to delicately peel off layers of poofy blanket and the limbs of my sleeping children at 1 a.m. and go find a water machine. I’ve also hidden a stash of snacks for my husband and me to quietly munch on while watching Netflix, one earbud from the headphones in each of our ears.

A man holds his baby daughter in fron of a horse photograph in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan.

A little boy squats on the floor and looks at the camera while his parents get ready behind him in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan.

A boy is washing his hands and his face is reflected ina mirror as he talks to his mom in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan. The mom is wearing her baby daughter in an Ergo baby carrier.

I’ve also learned how multifunctional a gigantic, springy hotel bed can be—dinner table, trampoline, quiet breastfeeding corner, chaotic playground, iPad movie theater, dog pile of sharp elbows and soft toddler tummies.

A mom breastfeeds her baby son while her older son is laughing and getting his diaper changed on a hotel bed in Taipei, Taiwan.

I think I could probably work for NASA and coordinate research teams, secure funding, garner international cooperation, and then launch a space shuttle for the purposes of a top-secret research mission to Mars to secure the continuation of our species in a post-apocalyptic climate-ravaged world because I have already experienced what it is to check out of a hotel room by 11 a.m. with young children. Nothing scares me.

A mom talks to someone as her toddler son cries and her older son sits in a stroller in the background in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan.

A mom holds and comforts her crying toddler son in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan.

I’ve tried to crack the code of a completely foreign public transportation system on too little sleep, not enough coffee, and kids who keep needing to go to the bathroom.

A mom and her too kids look confused in Taipei Main Station in Taipei, Taiwan.

A family tries to figure out how to buy an MRT ticket in Taipei, Taiwan.

I’ve poured over Google Maps looking for the closest coffee place that’s open and applied “vacation standards” to the snacks I allow my kids to consume.

A woman is in a coffee place and holding her son as a customer waves to them in Taipei, Taiwan.

A kid buys a bunch of snacks at a 7-11 in Taipei, Taiwan.

I’ve taken the cell phone snaps for posterity.

A dad takes a photo of his son in front of a statue of Chiang Kai-shek at CKS memorial in Taipei, Taiwan.

Parents take photos of their kids at CKS memorial in Taipei, Taiwan.

I’ve felt like a fish out of water and also reveled in the experience of watching my kids explore a new environment.

A child crawls on the floor with a crowd walking around hin at Taipei Main Station in Taipei, Taiwan.

A boy looks at some souvenires at CKS memorial at Taipei, Taiwan.

Two kids explore Guandu Temple in Taipei, Taiwan.

A boy runs down a hallway at Guandu Temple in Taipei, Taiwan.

Here’s the thing about family life: it will find a way to persist wherever you go. It may take a day or two of adjustment, but you’ll find yourself developing a new routine so that you can keep doing the thing that you always do—taking care of one another, loving each other and being in the world together.

Two boys sit on the floor of Taipei Main Station in Taipei, Taiwan.

Two boys look at a glowing pastry case together at Taipei Main Station in Taipei, Taiwan.

What a privilege it is to be fish out of water together, to discover that home can happen anywhere because it was never about where you lived but; home has always been the people you love.

A woman goes down the escalator while holding her two kids in Taipei, Taiwan.

A woman and her baby boy press the button for the elevator at Taipei Main Station in Taipei, Taiwan.

So of course people will bring me in to document a slice of life while they’re on vacation. Family life doesn’t stop—home doesn’t stop!—when you’re traveling. If anything, family bonds become stronger as everyone works together to create home in a hotel room, on that hotel bed that’s both clothes sorting station and changing table.

A baby girl and her older brother hang out on a bed in a hotel in Taipei, taiwan.

Documenting Family on Vacation

Kids cry a lot—do you want to remember it?

Word Muses