Can you imagine yourself ten, twenty, thirty years from now when your babies have grown and maybe even left your home to start their own lives? Will you remember what these busy, crazy, chaotic days were like? Will you miss it? Is there a way to hang on to the sweet, sticky, messy moments of this season?
I wish I had a movie to look back on of a day with my toddler quadruplets. Or a photo book to showcase what one day was like with my babies. Or when we came back from China with our baby girl, and our quadruplets were attending a small Christian school in New Hampshire.
Day in the Life documentaries can do that for you - and this is why I started Stories of Joy Photography. My passion is for everyone to have a documentary of a day in their life when the kids were young. What a gift to give your children and grandchildren! And to yourself. These photos will show the love and the hard work that goes into parenting - every single day.
“ “Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.” ”
I am so happy I got to document a day for the M family in Stuart, Florida.
Early on a Friday morning in January I joined the M family for the day to document one day at this stage in their life. It really was a normal day - kids were at school and dad went to work. Mom was busy the entire long day (but fortunately was able to squeeze a tiny nap in before the two youngest came home from school).
I sometimes get asked about these all day sessions - what about the times when 'nothing' is happening.
The Day in the Life Sessions are exactly that - a photography session to document your day - whatever it looks like. For storytelling it is best to start when kids wake up, and wrap it up when they go to bed. With the M family we started at 6 am, but then had a little break in the morning when mom had an appointment (I hang out at the coffee shop for a little while), and also after lunch before kids came home from school. I brought my computer and starting culling early morning photos!
No matter what the day looks like, I squeeze in a lot of little breaks. It's a long day! For you, too - to have someone else in your home, and with you all day. It's okay to take a nap, take a break and it's okay if nothing is happening every moment of the day.
For the M family pace picked up quite a bit as soon as the school bus came back, and I stayed with the M's until the youngest went to bed, and the older two snuggled on couches with mom and dad to watch one of their favorite tv shows.
Oh, and most families I have done a Day in the Life Session (about 13? now) have told me they are kind of boring, but I really have not found that be true for any session. If you have kids - or even just one, life is never boring :-)
When you book your Day in the Life Session with me, there is a non-refundable deposit to hold the day for you. I do these full day sessions on Fridays or Saturdays, but can make an exception occasionally if you would prefer to do it on a different day. Just ask!
On our day together the payment for the day is due. It includes all the planning, my time at your house, all the editing of the images, and a downloadable high resolution movie of the Story Gallery (which is the best 100 storytelling images of the day).
All my Day in the Life families also see a Full Gallery of about ~300 images, and you will have the option of purchasing A) the Story Gallery high resolution digital images, or B) all high resolution images. If you purchase all high resolution images (Story Gallery and the Full Gallery) I also make a gorgeous, professionally printed hardcover book from the Story Gallery Images for you, which is included in the price of both galleries. (In the next blog post I will showcase the book from the M family, and a few of my favorite images as well.)
This is what mom wrote about our day:
“One of my friends did a Day in the Life session with Sennu and put her pictures up on Facebook. I loved the idea, thought the photos were excellent, and decided to do it myself. I was slightly worried about what spending the whole day together would be like, but it turned out to be very enjoyable and totally worth it. Sennu is an exceptionally easygoing, kind person to be around, and the pictures of my family are so special and are something that I can’t wait for myself (and my kids!) to look back on. Thank you, Sennu!!!”
(Thank you, K!!! I loved my day with your Family!)
I have three open spots for a Day in the Life Session this spring (and possibly 1-2 more Saturdays, just waiting for scheduling confirmations):
FRIDAY April 27th OR SATURDAY April 28th.
FRIDAY May 11th
FRIDAY June 1st
Let me know if you're ready to book, or if you have any questions! I would love to help your family to make a photo documentary of this stage in your life.