What Photos Have You Missed? Documentary Photography in Denver, Colorado

Who do you wish you had photos of? What photos have you missed? I am the youngest of six kids, and my mother was obviously busy. Most of our photographs ended up thrown in a big cardboard box that sat on the top shelf of my brother’s closet. Now and then I would have my parents pull that box down, and I would spend hours going through all of the photos. There were pictures of my older sisters when they were young, pictures of cousins, my parent’s families, grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and family I have never met. Amazingly, when we tragically lost my father at just 53 years old, we had a  tough time finding photos with him in them. We had a posed picture when I was about five with all of my siblings, but most of the candid shots he was either missing or in the background.   

Now that I have my own family, I have tried to balance the desire to document everything with putting the camera down and living in the present. I have been too guilty myself of not getting in front of the camera. Thank goodness for phone cameras and the fact virtually everyone has a camera in their pocket now, otherwise, I wouldn’t show up! Those snapshots may not be the prettiest, the most artistic, but at least it shows I was there.

I have spent a lot of time thinking though when I am older and looking back at my life, what kind of photos do I want to have? Posed family portraits are beautiful and have their place, but what I want to look back on, though, are the experiences. I want to look at a photo and think ‘Oh yeah, that is the time Leo was trying balance on those rocks and being silly...until he lost his balance and fell into the creek. We couldn’t stop laughing’. I want to look back at our beach vacation, our annual gingerbread house decorating - especially the time Leo did it dressed up in his Spiderman costume, my boys making sugar cookies for Santa with my mom, Henry practicing his piano, cooking, or helping dad with one of his various projects.

My passion for documentary photography is rooted in this desire to capture the mundane details that we end up looking back on fondly. I crave catching people in their every day and experiencing genuine emotions. I want people to have the opportunity to live in the moment and be present in their life, while still documenting the details they will look back on in life.  Weddings are important events, and we understand why people invest so much in capturing that day. There is so much more to our lives though that are just as significant, even if they seem small. 

I ask again, what memories do you want to look back on? What images do you want your kids to see when they are older? You need a photographer that is willing to pull those details out of you to help create an experience to document the things your family values, what you enjoy to do together and your authentic interaction. Think about you and your partner before you even thought about bringing kids into the mix. Remember those first moments of having your first newborn in your home and how things felt so foreign, but yet, not. How about those weekly hikes as a family and stopping for a picnic lunch? I would love to help you preserve those memories.