Finding beauty and joy in your daily rituals and routines, Atlanta family photographer

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“To love your days is to love your life.”

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I’m always inspired by the ideas of James Clear (if you aren’t subscribed to his 3-2-1 newsletter you should be). When I came across what he had to say here (the last part especially), it resonated with why I feel so strongly about photographing the lives of families the way I do.

"Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal-we often see our routines as chores to be completed.

But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual-perhaps even a fulfilling one-if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It's about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task.

Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals and you will find beauty and joy in your daily life. To love your habits is to love your days, and to love your days is to love your life." - James Clear

Life with young kids can feel like it’s just work…all the time. When your days are a string of routines that lead you to bedtime with little time left for anything extra, it can feel really exhausting. It IS really exhausting. Maybe, if we can see that string of routines as being the point of it all—rather than a thing to get through so you can get on with other things—we will be able to see and feel more ease in our days.

And if your family is anything like my family, your routines still may not feel ease-y even with a mindset shift. But I promise, if you can have someone show you what it looks like, you will see that there is still beauty and joy in the way you tend to your family during those routines. I hope that by seeing your days you will come to love your days and in turn love your life. Cause even when the days feel messy and chaotic, there are opportunities for tender moments of connection within the daily routine.

Thanks to this family for reminding me to find the joy in shared rituals.

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At home with the Wicks, Atlanta Family Photographer

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The floor is lava…

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The floor is lava in many of the homes where I photograph families. Luckily, I always remember to bring my lava boots because the floor in my own home is often lava.

The games we play as kids stick with us throughout life. They become the codes within our generation in which we build identity. They become the stories within families that siblings bond over.

While I don’t remember playing the floor is lava, we played a game called spider often. We would set up a blanket in the middle of the floor, and one person would be on that blanket as the spider. The spider had to try to catch the others as they moved around the room, but they couldn’t get off the blanket. The first person who was caught became the next spider. The game never got old. I don’t have any pictures of us playing the game, but I remember the texture of the soft blue blanket we used. I remember the brown and tan striped couch we jumped from to run to safety on the orange chair. I remember the game in the context of my childhood home.

Being able to capture the games you play is one of the many reasons I love photographing your family in your home. At home, your kids can be in pajamas and then become batman and still be able to decide to become a dinosaur. They can show off their trophy collection and incorporate all their tricks into play. They can jump from pillow to pillow when the floor is lava or jump on the bed and avoid the pillows that come flying at their face. Anything can happen, and so many things do happen.

I want to give you photographs that your kids will be able to use as portals back to their childhood. To remember the games they played with you. To see the parts of their identity that were already so clearly evident. To know without a doubt how much they are loved.

What games did you play as a child? Do you have any photographs of those games? What images come up in the memories?

Get in touch so I can make photos of your family in your home for your kids to discover in the future.

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A chorus of mothers

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A celebration of voices. A celebration of you.

I'm normally a little timid about celebrating Mother's Day. To be honest, I'm a little timid about celebrating most commercialized holidays. But...if ever there were a time I felt the need to celebrate mothers, it is now. In 2020. In the midst of this pandemic.