everyday life / 1

A recent conversation with one of my besties, Jules, sparked a conversation about being bored of shooting our own everyday lives, but somehow enjoying the images of other peoples’ everyday lives. I wondered if it’s because we LIVE our own lives, so we see the same things over and over – where other people’s everyday lives are new to us.

(Jules easily convinced me (and a few of our friends) to sign up for Molly Flanagan’s Visual Storytelling class. I’m so excited about the creative spark I know it will light in all of us. Visual storytelling is what I’m all about.)

I’ve kinda stopped shooting the everyday. I guess I just feel like my life – especially during the school year – is so monotonous. Get ready for school. Go to work. Leave work. Pick kids up from school. Come home. Deal with homework and dinner and showers. And count the minutes until bedtime, so I can crash. Exhausted.

Sometimes, it doesn’t feel worth documenting. So, my camera stays in its bag. This conversation with Jules, though – it pushed me to shoot. And I shot 532 images that day (two days ago). 132 of them were keepers. A handful are some of my new favorites.

This conversation led me to begin this new series – everyday life. I don’t know. Maybe shooting more will push me to do more fun things with the kids. To break the monotony. Even if it’s for picture taking, isn’t that a win-win?

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Everyday Life / 1

Some days, after school, I’ll take the kids to 7-11 to get Slurpees. Usually we are celebrating something. Usually that something we are celebrating is trivial. “You did a good job on your test?! Let’s celebrate!” “You got to school on time! Yahoo!” (Pretty much an excuse to go to 7-11.)

 

We don’t go crazy. This happens about once a month – maybe twice. More than that, and I worry it won’t be “special” anymore.

(Overfilling the cup, then licking the extra is part of the tradition.)

 

To be honest, I’m not sure how into the Slurpees they actually are anymore. The past few times, Ryan’s left the cup half full. And this time, they almost instantly started shopping the ice cream freezer. This may be a dying tradition.

 

Or maybe not.

 

Maybe they’ll find some other 7-11 treat they’ll want, like…

 

… a Fiber One bar? Seriously, Ryan?

 

(When Isabel picked a Rice Krispies Treats bar, he saw the light.)

 

Way to pay the check, Iz! That girl can swipe a card – watch out. (Oh, and look at that pile of healthy bananas being ignored up there.)