Monday, April 26, 2010

Photography Week: reflections



1. Wew. I'm glad that's over with.

2. It was more work that I thought it would be. I ended up taking between 200-300 photos a day. Then every night I uploaded, edited and printed the photos and assembled that day's page. I'm glad I did it that way because I think if I had to face 2000 photos this week and sort them all out I would jump ship and abandon the project. And I think I work better with one big intense push...knowing the light is at the end of the tunnel.

3. I am so, so, so, so, so glad I did it. So glad. I love seeing the two page spread with a paragraph about each person on that page. There is something so powerful about that for me. It makes me feel so family when I look at those pages. I like that we all get the same amount of space and that we each get a daily shout out.

4. I wish there was more Dave in there. I wish I had stuff about his commute, the building he works in, the seltzer he drinks, the crazy things he says.

5. For months I had resigned myself to accepting that I am not that pretty. I decided that I just needed to stop being vain about the whole thing, accept that I am not that pretty and stop deleting photos of myself. It will be important to Andrew and Isaac that I am in the photos. Let go of it. But I took a lot of photos of myself this week. A lot. And of course there are ones that I look terrible in, but it ended up being really good for me to see me in all these photos. Turns out, in my perspective at least, I'm really not that bad after all. Funny little victory there.

6. I posted here my favorite shots of the week. My favorite, favorite, favorite is the one above. It wins the "Photography Week Awesome Shot" contest. I love the light, love the expressions, love the angle.



7. I love this one too. I think it's just lovely. I love the profile (ahem, MY profile), the glowing light on the sheet, the mundane every-ness becomes something downright lovely. That was something I kept thinking over and over. That everyday stuff is so lovely. My teapot: lovely. Andrew's drawings: lovely. Isaac's fuzzy diapers even: lovely.



8. I love this one because it is so stinkin' cute. I think he looks edibly adorable here as he works on his new skill. I love how he's lit too. All soft and sweet. Ack!



9. I don't get a whole lot of photos with both kids...and I rarely get shots with both of them looking oh-so-cute. Dang my kids are cute.



10. Oh. My. Lord. I wish it was better lit, I wish it wasn't so orange-brown...but I still love it love it love it.



11. I see people do this whole rear view mirror thing all the time and my attempts have always flopped. I love this one. This is one of the "wait! I look pretty here!" photos.

12. I included a lot of photos in the book that were not well lit or were fuzzy or that had something wrong with them because I wanted to include that part of the story. I think that process was good for me too. It's thrilling to see a photograph I took that I LOVE. But it's also really nice to see a photo that's not going win any prizes, but has its own value in the story it tells.

13. Will I do this again? Sure thing. Just not for a while.

8 comments:

Loralee said...

Congratulations! What a lot of work and what a beautiful outcome!

Maria Ontiveros said...

Great reflections on the process. One thing that continually surprises me is that my children (11 and 14 years old) think I'm pretty and reasonably thin! When in actuality I'm pretty average looking and a bit overweight!
I'm sure your children also think you're beautiful!
rinda

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

Congrats on finishing the project! I love the photo of you making the bed. The lighting is wonderful!

Mama V said...

Ooh, a bonus post! Two in one day! How nice!

I really admire your commitment (and Dave's as well!) to this big project, Robyn! From my end as well, the effort was worth it!

I also enjoyed hearing your reflections on this project, what stood out to you in your photos and why, what's important to you, etc.

I'm with ya' on the desire to include pictures that tell the story over good quality. It's also interesting to me that what strikes one person as a quality/beautiful photo might not be seen in the same way as another person. There's so much more of a story to each photo that is both told and untold, depending on who is seeing it and what they know.

Ruth said...

Don't be so hard on yourself! Not many of us think that we are pretty, I know I don't! Your boys love you, and your DH loves you, and that counts for more than anything else, by far!
I also took a shot of me making the bed, but yours is far better, all that lovely light.

Liv said...

I love how your album came together. I'm attempting the project, but I haven't even uploaded all the pics yet! I'm a procrastinator....

firefly said...

Especially when I first see you in person, before I'm drawn into your presence and mostly stop thinking about what you look like all together, I always feel so much in pleasure in the look of you. In a simple sense, I think you are very pretty. But that's the least of it. I just feel so much pleasure in how you look because it helps convey a story of who you are inside me--kind of like you and Vanessa are saying about photos. There is a lot of beauty to be had there. So, I'm glad to have all these photos of you through your blog, too. It gives me a good soaking-up feeling of love for you, my friend.

Maritza said...

Great post. I think there are more women who think like us than not. Like you, I am just getting in the pictures and loving that I am becoming part of the story not just the story teller.