by Sara Seeton
When you’re a photographer, sometimes the last thing you want to do is pull out the camera and take photos for YOU. It’s sad, but very true. You spend the entire weekend shooting sessions, then all week sitting at the computer editing. The thought of pulling out the gear, wrangling up the kids and wrestling with them trying to get them to cooperate does not sound overly exciting. And then because you overshoot like me (for every great shot there are 30 shots of crying, whining, blinking, nose picking, pushing, wrestling, bribing, running away, etc.), you dread filling up your already-full hard drive and slowing down your already-slow computer. Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing though – your kids are not going to be kids forever. They grow up way too fast. We spend all this time preaching to our clients how important it is to get your family portraits done each year to document these precious moments in their lives. Why are we not doing the same? One of my favorite things to do is to look through my family albums from childhood and reminisce, especially now that my mother has passed away. We want our children to have photos to look at and cherish one day, too, right?
So here is my challenge to you – set a goal for yourself. Set aside one day a week or one day a month, it doesn’t matter – the point is, just set aside some time regularly to take photos for YOU, for your KIDS, for your FAMILY! Mark it on the calendar! Whether it be a planned session in a specific location or just lifestyle shots at home, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Even one shot a day can easily be accomplished. Think of all the images you could have printed into a beautiful album each year.
Earlier this week, I took out the camera and documented my kids for the entire day, from the moment they crawled into my bed and woke me up with their morning snuggles, to the moment Daddy read them their bedtime story. One day when they are grown, they will look back at these images and be so thankful that I took the time to do this for them.
No more excuses! Set a goal. Start shooting for YOU so your kids will have those same memories that we spend so much time creating for everyone else.
Here was the goal I set for myself – to document a day in our lives. All the images were processed with the Clickin Moms Film Art Presets - always a favorite of mine, especially for lifestyle images.
Here’s a day in the life of the Seeton family:
Thank you, as always, for the inspiration and sharing your beautiful family with us, Sara!
Sara Seeton
CM Mentor
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Sara may be Canadian but she lives the Texas life with her husband and two daughters. A long time lover of photography, it wasn’t until her children were born that she realized it was her passion. She describes her photography as “fresh, modern, fun + simple” and says, “my photography style totally reflects who i am as a person. I tried for so long to find my photography style, but when I finally realized that I just needed to be ME that is when everything fell into place and just ‘clicked’.” Having a design background she also loves to spend her time working with branding and logos but also enjoys chillin’ on the couch, eating junk food, catching up with her DVR, her iphone, cinnamon dolce lattes, and vanilla coke.
Read all ‘a day in the life’ photography articles.
These are just gorgeous Sara! I am so glad you did this; truly an inspiration!
Wonderful and completely inspiring – I'm going to try to do this at least quarterly. <3 Thank you, Sara!!
Sara, what an amazing collection of photos for one day-in-the-life!! I love them – thank you so much for sharing!
Love this, Sara, I love the peek into your days! It's wonderful. I really want to do this more. <3
Sara, I just love all of these images! I'm definitely inspired!!
Very inspirational and a great winter project. I really want to try this out! Thanks Sara!
LOVE this post. Inspirational. Gorgeous images, Sara!
LOVE these! A wonderful reminder to capture the moments we can never get back. Thank you!
These are lovely and so inspiring – thank you for sharing them :)
This is so fun – what a great way to remember what the day looks like when they're this young!
I love these so much! I did this, too, recently (http://www.wonderlovephotography.com/2012/01/a-day-in-my-life-the-pictures-tell-the-story-dallas-family-photojournalism/), but I think I took too many pictures! It took me forever to get them all edited, so I told myself this was only going to be a once every 6 months or year project! Maybe next time I need to scale it back a bit…
Great job!!
Sara, thank you so much for posting this….I need to get on it and do something similar. I can’t imagine a better way of really recording my kids and remembering. Your images made me smile and I can feel the love you have for your children through them. :)
Thoroughly enjoyed your "day in the life" post! Creative compositions and details telling your story!
I love this very much! Thank you for sharing. Your kids will truly cherish these when they are older! What a great gift.
gorgeous shots as always! I have been doing a 365 for 3 years now but I need to do a whole day at once like this. Awesome work Sara!
I love this Sara! You've definitely inspired me to do this for my kids. So lovely and powerful and such a precious, precious gift to give your girls!
AWESOME post, Sara!!! love all of these so much…especially that one of you and K. wonderful reminders. thank you for the inspiration. xo
Absolutely love these. If my day were this beautiful, I'd have 365 days-in-the-life!
Inspiring in every way! Thank you, Sara.
What a beautiful walk through your day! :)
Precious memories for later! I was so glad to see pictures of you and your husband included. We have sadly gone on entire vacations with me behind the camera and no one thinking to take a shot of me. A stranger looking back, would think I was never a part of it :-( …..
Memories of everyone in your days are important!
How great is this? It brought a smile to my face! Thanks for sharing Sara. Your girls are going to love looking back on this.
You're so right! And I love how I can instantly get a feel for your family's personality through these photos. Thanks so much for the inspiration to do this with my own family. I needed it!
I LOVE this, Sara! It is so fun to see a peek into your daily life!
What a beautiful post! I love the photos, especially the toilet one! hehe
Thanks for the boost! I have wanted to do this forever!
Wow. Everything you said was so true. What a great idea. Will definitely set this Day in the Life as a goal for 2012. Thank you!!! I'm just not sure I'd be able to take pictures of my family inside our house, since it's a disaster. Your house is immaculate! The first picture may be my favorite.
What an amazing idea!! I cant wait to give it a *shot*. You have a beautiful family. Thanks for sharing with all of us!! Many blessings to you and your family in 2012!!
these are terrific! i'd really encourage you to check out Ali Edward's "a day in the life" project – and also "project life" – would fit in so well with what you're doing! http://www.aliedwards.com
Priceless, inspiring and relateable! Beautiful photos and beautiful family, thank you for posting!
Aww Sara, thanks for sharing this. I have never thought to document an entire day! I am going to try to do this. LOVE!
So inspiring! What a beautiful family and images! Thank you for sharing.
loved your slice of "everyday" life!
The bathroom one put a smile on my face – this is such a great idea!
Thanks for sharing your day with us. Gorgeous sharp photos that tell a great story on their own.
Hello, I do think your website could be having web browser compatibility problems. Whenever I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, wonderful blog!
Amazing post and website!
Thank you so much !