There's something magical about stepping into a memory: "Family Films"

You may not know, but way back when, in the days of dial-up and answering machines I dreamed of my future in film and animation. I created my own high school independent study program where I spent hours upon hours creating stop action animation videos. My friends and I pulled all nighters making movies and creating characters that I would then edit together into (what we considered) hilarious masterpieces. And my best friend and I were then put in charge of putting together our senior slideshow. I loved creating moving memories. I always found it to be such an immersive way to revisit the past.

Isn't life funny? After a very round about way of getting back into photography (I took classes in high school and my main subject was my 2 year old babysitting charge, but ended up focusing on digital arts and oil painting all through college), it wasn't until I had children of my own that I rediscovered my love of capturing childhood moments and memories. And only more recently that I rediscovered my other love for film!

It's a whole different element working with "living photos." And what I enjoy the most in my line of work is capturing real life moments. The ones that we consider mundane, but we'll look back on with fondness. The beautifully ordinary. Film allows those moments to be brought to life. While photos make for fantastic tangible artwork and heirlooms, film is an immersive experience with the ability to transport you back to that moment in time.

This session was especially fun! A family with 4 smart, active girls, all fairly close in age, the action was non-stop. There wasn't much planning in terms of the way things would play out. I told the family I would arrive in the morning and see what stage of the day they were in (it turned out they were ready to go out and ride bikes). I gave very little instruction aside from the occasional "can you jump off the swing one more time," or something similar. I prefer to be a fly on the wall of a normal day. I did suggest they have an activity planned that the whole family could join in on. Something that maybe they do a lot anyway. They chose cookie making, which provided lots of opportunities for interaction, connection, expressions, and action. Afterwards the girls dispersed to play and read while waiting for the cookies to bake and when they were done they enjoyed them while Dad read a book aloud. We managed to get everyone to pile on the couch for family photo and by lunch time it was a rap!

I really enjoy the feeling of stepping into a memory.

In this session I shot both film and photos simultaneously. The photos are not stills of any of the footage, but all individually composed so they could stand alone. The session took about 2.5 hours and the aim is to edit the film into the duration of one song that fits that mood.

If you're interested in this kind of documentary style family film or film and photo session I'm happy to chat and answer any questions! Info & Pricing.