Your Real Life Is Most Interesting

I am a part of a group on Facebook that is meant as a community for documentary family photographers – but every day group members ask questions that show their hearts just aren't in it."How do you tell your families to dress?""Do you ask them to clean their house?""Do you move distracting things around?""What do you direct them to do? I don't want them to act boring!"In documentary family photography the photos aren't about making perfectly orchestrated images that are "pinnable". In other words, the photos aren't supposed to be about the photographer.A documentary photographers influence should not show in how the family members dress, what their home or the location looks like, or how they act in front of the camera – that is called lifestyle photography.Documentary photos are meant to capture and embrace the families just as they are. A photographers influence shows in how they photograph the family – with empathy, humor, curiosity? Maybe they press the shutter when they see subtle touches and gestures between family members, maybe they pick up their camera when kids do ridiculously strange things – yes, these are both me.This gets me so fired up, because in college I felt the need to uphold a false appearance in front of friends, family as well as strangers. However, if the people around me knew that I was working through some anxiety and depression, they might have approached me with curiosity, empathy, or told me they were going through the same thing.The reason behind why any photographer makes documentary family photos, as well as what moments they choose to shoot, is rooted somewhere deeper than a desire to make beautiful imagery.I want to capture and share the everyday joys and struggles of parenthood through my work – so parents all over can say "Yes – I'm going through this too".