The little stories of our lives tell of simple moments when the everyday is transformed into something remarkable… They concern the people that we love, the details that we observe… [they] encapsulate the reasons we get out of bed every morning: they describe the tiny pleasures and commonplace rituals that see us through every day.”
- Laura Pashby
Earlier this week I gave an online photography presentation to a school, and in preparing for it I spent some time going quite a ways back into my archives. As I sifted through images the ones I lingered over longest were usually those of small, everyday moments; lunch with my kids, time at the playground, images made during an afternoon coffee with a friend. I was taken aback by how empty my recent history was of these same types of photos. I used to practice on those images constantly. But as I’ve grown and changed as a photographer and a person, the types of images I make most have changed too. It probably hasn’t helped that, like many, my last two years have been lived feeling somewhat trapped inside one long everyday moment. Usually I find that you need to be able to gain some distance from something in order to really appreciate it.
But I enjoyed seeing the old images so much I decided I would try to do a better job of making more, even if just mostly for myself. The boys gave me a great opportunity when they spent nearly an entire day sitting side by side making valentines for each other. Truth be told I really sort of hate Valentines Day (Is there a Valentines equivalent of the Grinch? We’d probably get along quite well if there was…) But it’s hard not to soften a little bit watching these two put so much effort into making something they knew would make the other smile.