Six months after documenting this sweet baby girl's birth story, I returned to make a second film for her family.
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As long as the nights are, your baby's newborn days pass in a flash.
Remember the way love fills your home during this time.
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When our second (or third, plus) baby comes home, life is different from when we brought our first born home.
That's why Emma and Owen's parents chose a Family Photo and Film Session to remember this time, as it really was, in their family's life.
Read MoreSometimes, we're given an opportunity to reflect on the most important things in life.
For Patricio and his daughters, that's family.
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What would you give, to have a film of your grandma, your mom, you, and your babies, all together in the same place, at the same time?
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Last month, though, I did my first "By the Hour" project. The challenge, of course, is to create an interesting photo when the timer goes off - no matter how uninteresting things seem to be at the moment.
And that's really what it's all about, isn't it?
Finding that beautiful bit in the mundane.
Reframing your view of your personal situation and focusing more on all the little things you're thankful for.
And being 100% present, so you can truly experience it.
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I cannot. stop. watching. this film.
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You guys all know what a big fan I am of the every day moments, but traditions hold a big place in my heart, too.
And so, it was important to me to film it. To create this living memory of my little boys and my mother doing something I had done as a child, and something they'll do one day with theirs.
To be perfectly honest, though, I wasn't sure how it would go this year, or whether it would be worth filming at all.
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What would you do if I came over with my camera for the afternoon?
Maybe you’d cozy up and read on the couch with your youngest. Maybe you’d bake something special with your oldest. Maybe you’d build a fort from start to finish with your kids – or try, until they took over to get everything just so.
Or maybe, like Nicole’s family, you’d just be.
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Growing up, my grandparents were the sort who would drop everything for my sister and me.
My grandfather would chat away with us during "coffee time", which included slices of apple pie and a Sun Drop for us girls.
My grandmother was always available for curling up on the couch together with a book or teaching us to knit for the 100th time.
We'd feed the cat, play Clue, and beg for another guided tour of the basement "treasures" - the highlight being a set of animal traps my grandfather used for hunting as a boy.
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I believe there is something truly magical about photos of your family, taken in your own home, doing the things you normally do.
I believe the details in the setting of your house will take you back to this time and revive sweet memories you've forgotten, every time you look at them.
I believe the little interactions within your family scream love.
During Eliza's Film Session, I also photographed her family. After a year of hospitalization, Eliza is finally home, and the beautiful connections they share definitely scream love.
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After a year of hospitalization, including major heart surgery and a throat surgery to correct breathing issues, Eliza is home!
This film is a celebration of Eliza's life, her homecoming, and the love her family shares, both with her and for her. My hope, is that in the years to come, they'll look back and see how far they've come.
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This fall has been a tough one for my family. My husband and I have had busy work schedules, and between the boys’ school and after-school commitments, sometimes it’s felt as if I couldn’t catch my breath. Can you relate?
In all the running from place to place, reviewing spelling words and Spanish vocab, and making sure lunches are packed every day, the weeks have flown by, with weekends whipping even faster.
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Melissa trusted me to see exactly what she sees every day - the chaos, the beauty, and the love in raising four little ones.
And just as importantly, she trusted her children to be themselves - kind, funny, creative, and connected - without directing them to do or be anything else.
The result?
A beautiful gallery of photographs - and a film - depicting a typical Saturday morning in this phase of their lives.
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While Melissa and I sat outside in the warm morning sunshine, brainstorming the memories she wanted captured in her family photo session, her four children played around us.
At one point, I remember her saying, "I wish a photo could capture their little voices. The way they talk to each other. The way they move."
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When you're expecting your first baby, it's completely natural to spend most of your time dreaming about your next phase of life.
Between the preparations to be made and the anticipation of meeting the little miracle growing in your belly, the future is an exciting time.
But right now, on the precipice of your life changing in this gigantic and wonderful way, is also just as amazing.
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There are so many similarities between a documentary family photo session and a maternity one, especially when a family already has a child (or two, as Kaytee and Jason do!), but that's exactly what makes them so special.
A baby isn't born in a bubble. He's born into a family - and that family shapes who he is and who he becomes. When your family celebrates this stage of life in photos, it's truly a gift for everyone involved.
Whether it's your first or your third, giving your child the ability to look back in time and see how he was a part of your family's life from the very beginning is something he will always treasure.
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I fell in love with Family Films from the first time I saw one, and I knew I had to learn how to create them.
I know that the movement and sound captured in these videos will take our hearts back in time in a way that's totally different from photos, and just as valuable.
Long after our boys are grown, we'll have their little voices, their foot steps, their hobbies, and their giggles in this time capsule.
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When I think of the ways I love my family every day…
From making meals to reading stories,
From kissing away boo-boos to listening to hopes and dreams,
From dancing and singing to hugging and cuddling,
It breaks my heart to think, if I don’t make an effort to get in the frame, one day, the details of those memories will fade away – both for me and for my children.
Megan understands how important it is to have her family’s real life documented – and to be IN her family’s collective memory in photographs.
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Pregnancy is such an important phase of life to document with photos. Whether you feel fantastic or not-so-much, it's the beginning of your child's story. Looking back at photos of this season of your life will bring back the anticipation and love you felt, while waiting for your child to arrive.
Even more, though, it gives your child a glimpse of what your family's life was like, just before his or her arrival. Our children want to see how much they were loved, even before we see their faces, and they see it in the details.
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