All of life is full of stories, of moments both planned and spontaneous, scripted and raw, momentous and miniature. I encourage you to take a moment to take inventory of where there are stories in your life. Make yourself a list:

your family’s typical morning routine
your child’s baseball game
a hike in the woods on a saturday
homeschooling around the table
the weekly trip to the farmer’s market to pick up your CSA
your child’s birthday party…

And then ask yourself if any of these stories are begging your heart to be documented and turned into keepsake images, reminders to you for years to come of the gifts of this one wild and precious life.

For this family, they’re counted their daughters’ first birthday parties on their list of stories worth telling, and I’ve been honored to document both. I come to the party and make photographs of the amazing details this creative mama painstakingly planned and executed, the guests (who are the people dearest to them in this season of their life), and a few family portraits on the front or back end of the party.

Have a look…