A Day In The Life Of A Mom: Documentary Family Photography

05/01/2018

I was nervous. Not going to lie, I was sure it was going to be a disaster. The thought of having someone come over to my house to take photos of my kids and I in our ‘natural habitat’ was frightening. What if my son had a meltdown and I lose my cool? What if my daughter torments my son all morning? Am I going to have photos of my kids crying all the time? Will it be a lifetime reminder of the emotional rollercoaster that happens on a day to day basis? Or worse will I yell at my kids all day long and will end up looking like the world’s worst Mom?!

Relax I told myself. It’s only 4 hours. What could go wrong?!

Documentary Family Photography is a relatively new concept that is slowly becoming more popular.The way it works is that for a half a day (or a full day), Shirley Lynne of ‘A Day In The Life Of A Mom’ comes to your home and does her best to ‘blend’ in while capturing all the little magical moments of you being a Mom. It’s meant to be casual, so no need to put on special clothes or do your hair and or make up. It’s as you are, going through your day as you normally would. It does sound a little scary, but I can assure you based on our morning with Shirley, she was nothing short of amazing!

Shirley showed up one snowy morning in March to do our half day documentary morning. I hadn’t planned anything special other than doing things that we loved to do. Eat, play, make cookies, do crafts, play more and read stories. Shirley was super helpful in guiding us to be ourselves, not do anything too ‘planned’ or prepared in advance. After all, it’s meant to capture the day to day moments of scrapping a finger and needing kisses or dropping pancakes on the floor. All the messy, beautiful, chaotic moments that make up our day to day lives.

So we did just what Shirley suggested. We were ourselves. At first my five year old (who has a few more years experience in front of the camera) tried to smile and pose. A lot. But slowly she became more comfortable with Shirley just snapping away. My two year old isn’t one to smile for photos, so I thought this would work better for him. And it turns out that it really did. Moments that I can’t seem to get on camera with him, she managed to capture, once he got comfortable with Shirley which didn’t take long. She blended in with us, chatting with the kids, staying close but far enough away and respecting the moments to take photos and other ones to just let them pass by. She was there, but it never felt like paparazzi. More like a friend hanging out, just snapping some photos.

So we ate, got ready for the day, played cars, did crafts, read books, played super-heros, had a tea party and made chocolate chip cookies. Admittedly, we did cram a lot of things into our morning that perhaps we might not have done ALL of them. But I did stay true to the things we like to do instead of finding and making my kids do things that aren’t normally in our routine. My son was clingy most of the morning, so I did at one point tell Shirley that I was disappointed I didn’t get more time with my daughter and I in the photos but the neat thing is that Shirley caught moments with the two of us, I didn’t even remember her taking.

A week after we did our photos, she sent me the gallery to look through and I cried when I looked at them. It wasn’t that we were all looking at the camera smiling and or that she got that one amazing picture where we are all looking our best. It was that she caught those micro moments where my daughter and I are exchanging a sweet look, or that my son needed me when he hurt his hand, or when my kids were colouring and I look tired, but happy. All of it that we never get to see, was staring at me from the pages of her gallery. It was chaotic and messy but it was real and beautiful and it was us. And I loved it.

Moms, you know the reality is we are rarely in photos. I can’t tell you how many pictures I have of my husband in photos with the kids and all I seem to get is random selfies. I am thrilled that now I have these photos where I can put up some of these simple, yet meaningful moments of myself with my kids and remember back to these early days. The days when time seems to be going so fast, yet so slow. The days when my kids really truly need me. The days that we are shaping them into the little people they’re going to be. The days they just want to be with their Mama. 

Thank you Shirley for capturing these magical moments. To others it might seem plain. But for me? It’s my world. It’s one day in our life that I’ll treasure for a lifetime. I will never get back these days of little, but thanks to Shirley, I’ll have pictures to remember this one cold, snowy morning in March where we played all morning and were just us.

Thank you.

If you are interested in learning more about A Day in the life of a Mom, Documentary Family photography, you’re in luck! For the month of May, Shirley is offering 50% off her session fee for any booking made in May (you can book in May, but the session doesn’t have to be in May)! Make sure to mention Mommy Connections to get your discount! Whether you’re pregnant, have a newborn or anything beyond, make sure to reach out to Shirley.