Category: Documentary Photography Features
Teaching Children about Self Expression through Documentary Photography
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. They say you can learn a lot about someone by what they photograph. They also say that everyone has their own unique perspective. I couldn’t agree more. I am a documentary photographer. I am also a mom of three kids. I love both jobs immensely. I spend […]
Documenting Real Stories: Annual Festival in South Africa
My name is Jana, and I’m one of the very few documentary photographers in my area here in South Africa. These photos that I share with you are very close to my heart, and remain one of my favourite sessions of all time. Since documentary family photography is still so new and fairly unknown in […]
Documenting Real Stories: A Client Photo Session on a Farm
So much of my photography career people have always wanted everyone to look the camera “cheeseing”, and I’ll do it, very unwillingly, but I will do it. Those aren’t the moments that anyone truly want to remember. The ones where everyone has sweat dripping and teeth grinding all while trying to wrangle children into their position […]
Documenting Mitzvahs as Part of a Thriving Photography Business with Susan Kalina
I am a documentary family and event photographer. However, I didn’t start out that way. I majored in photojournalism at Mizzou and worked at newspapers and magazines for ten years. Thirteen years ago I made the decision to step off the career track to stay home with my children and quit my job as a photo […]
Photographing a Moving Story + Thoughts on Memories
When I was five we moved an hour up the road to the house I would live in for the remainder of my childhood. I remember standing in the bathroom on our first night. The sun was setting and the sky was glowing pink and orange out of the kitchen window but in the bathroom […]
Documenting Real Stories: A High School Senior with a Love for Aviation
When clients contact me to inquire about a session, they often ask for either a specific location that reflects Germany, Europe or a location they’ve seen in my other images. Of course, to break the ice, I always joke and say, “of course, we can go there and of course I do everything… except underwater photography… LOL.” Early this past summer, […]
Documenting Real Stories: Photographing Employment Hardship + Lessons Learned
Weeks before I was married, a friend’s mother warned me that my marriage would never work. Little did she know that comment wouldn’t deter me. It challenged me. I think she meant well, really I do, because I was 19 and my husband, Joel was 20 when we were married. When I look back now, […]
The Photographer’s Perspective of the Women’s March on Washington
Photographers within our community were all photographing the same event, at the same time, all over the country, which I found to be extraordinary. Saturday evening as the photographers in our community started sharing their 2017 Women’s March photos, I was blown away watching photos pop up from cities all over our country. I did not […]
16 Inspiring Family Documentary Photography Sessions of 2016
We’re pretty thankful to be involved in a photography community where individual core values are celebrated. In 2016, we watched some photographers blossom, met new photographers who have become friends, and lifted each other up in taking documentary photography to our clients. This blog post is to give a shout out to a handful of […]
A Documentary Project: Norman and the Girl
As a child I was always drawn to the small and helpless of the world. Puppies, babies, birds with broken wings. My first dog was this ugly, awkward, strangely proportioned mutt from our small town humane society. My mom worked for the city and had gone on a tour there. Over dinner she talked about this […]
Thoughts on Photographing Your Own DITL with Alaina Miles
We’re surrounded by photographers shooting their Day in the Life projects and offering these sessions to clients. If you’re anything like me, you’ve become too busy to do your own and too “I really don’t want to invest in a photographer when I can take our family photos myself with a little strategy to get […]
No Food, But There Are Family Photos
A few weeks back I was visiting my parents, and going through boxes of old photographs. Some faces meant nothing to me, but others did because several years ago I sat down with my grandmother and asked her about our family history (what she remembered of it anyway), and who was who in some of the photos – and noted the names and relations down at the back of each photo.