Growing up, my dad always had a camera hanging on his neck. We’re lucky enough to have boxes and boxes of photos from over the years (which I’m very grateful for, especially after my brother passed away). He shot it all: family vacations, weddings, concerts, sports games, pumpkin picking, and, my favorite, the simple moments of everyday life. I’m talking trips to 7-11 for slurpies, playing dress up in my parent's clothes, impromptu dance parties on the porch with cousins, mom reading the newspaper on the couch.
Living in an age of technology, moments are captured more than ever. But most of these live on as nothing more than a jpeg on an iPhone, or a Facebook upload that may or may not get shared again over the years thanks to Facebook memories. But that’s about it.
So when someone asks me to capture photos of their family, I happily oblige with the hopes it’ll help those memories live on someday, just like the piles of photos I sift through and cherish from my childhood. (Yes, I even picked up that embarrassing thing my dad used to do, swooping in when he saw a someone taking a picture of their family, “here, why don’t you hop in and I’ll take the photo for you.” It used to drive me nuts – but now, that’s me, too.)
This summer I had the chance to shoot a family while they were vacationing in Ocean City, Maryland. I went to high school with Jackie – but I haven’t seen her since she had children of her own (which were so adorable and fun, btw). We got the standard family group shots, of course, but my favorites will always be the candid moments – and there were plenty of precious ones.
Thanks to Jackie and her family for opening their family and trusting me to capture these simple moments.
