What do you want to remember about this time in your life in a year or two, or ten and twenty? That’s a question I am starting to ask the families I photograph. Honestly, I am not sure I know the answer to that for myself! Sometimes life feels so redundant, mundane; each day feeling the same as the one before. Unless there is a major life change, it can take some reflection on what is important, special, or what you don’t want to forget. And maybe you won’t even know the significance a photo until years later.
So when I asked this family, why a session now? What do you want to remember about this slice of life? What are the kids doing that they might not be doing in a year or two from now? Dinosaurs, daffodils, and a daughter who plans to attend a boarding school this fall were the main reasons.
Their living room looks like a Jurassic World because the boy spends his mornings playing with all his dinosaurs. It’s amazing how little kids can memorize (and pronounce!) all the dinosaurs’ names, what they eat and any other fact they can gather. My question is: when they grow up and if they are not a paleontologist, do they remember all these names and facts?
Daffodils are the sure sign of spring. The only problem with flowers is that they “are here today and gone tomorrow.” The mom planted daffodil bulbs last fall and was looking forward to seeing them bloom so we planned the session at a time during their fullest glory. Unfortunately we had to reschedule and missed the yellow beauties, but I am sure she enjoyed them. But even if a memory cannot be recorded, it does not mean it will be forgotten. Some memories you hold in your heart and others come back every year in the form of flowers.
When I arrived at their house on a Saturday evening, everyone was dressed casual. The mom smiled as she remarked how her son had come down wearing a collared shirt and dress pants because he thought that’s what he had to wear to get his pictures taken. She thought it was so sweet, but told him, “you can wear your jeans and a regular shirt.” That’s one of the many reasons I love having in-home sessions, they are more about the memories and connections than looking or acting perfect.
I mentioned above how major life changes are a reason for wanting to capture the moment. This fall the daughter is planning to move across the state to attend a boarding school (the same one her mother and aunts attended growing up!). Another reason for pictures…a person who spent 16 years in the same house is moving away and looking at pictures of a normal Saturday (ok, normalish Saturday because there is usually not a photographer there taking pictures) helps to bring back those feelings of “this is what is was like;” this is what it felt like. I like those feelings. I think other families do too.
So, now, my question is, “do we really need a reason to have our pictures taken?” Nope. We just need to take them. Because I am sure that in a year or two, or five or twenty-five, you will have a reason to have taken those pictures. To remember the ordinary days. To remember that feeling of what it was like. And to be thankful for that season.
