It has been almost 4 months down on my Journey 2018, photo a day project. I have to admit that I don’t shoot every day, but I do try. I am so in love with the photographs that I have been creating through this project. I never thought that I would enjoy documentary and lifestyle photography, but it is quickly becoming some of my favorite work.
I have always admired the real and raw photographs that I have seen from other photographers, but never felt that I was deep enough or observant enough to capture real and raw images. When I started the year, I spent every day planning and executing photographs as I have always done. I love to create a photograph from start to finish. But then, business started to pick up and I was left with less time to plan my photo of the day. In the Journey group that I am in, other photographers were talking about carrying their camera around everywhere with them. So I decided to give it a shot. It was 26 days in, and I was putting Raelynn down for a nap. It was the perfect opportunity to practice! So I ran and grabbed my camera and worked some different angles before finally climbing up on to the bed and shooting down on her, capturing the below photograph.
Prompt Word : Jan 26 “Rockstar”
I have learned several things through this project.
- There is beauty in the mundane
- You can’t make a two year old pose, so just capture them as they are.
- Imperfections are beautiful
- Documenting my life is important to me
- Documenting Raelynn’s life and growth is important to me
I still love and will forever love setting the stage and creating sets and shooting posed portraits in the studio. But my documentary photography comes from my soul. I especially love the in between posed and documentary, lifestyle. It is setting the stage, and then letting the photographs unfold as they may.
Here are some of my favorite lifestyle/documentary photographs I have taken so far on my journey through 2018. I cannot wait for the photographs that I have yet to make!
