My Take Twelve Photos!

Whew. This is really the first time I have undertaken a project like this. One where I commit to taking a certain amount of photos, at a certain time, and committing to following through with them.  I love the structure of it, and being on the Take Twelve team certainly helps-nothing like a deadline to keep me on task.

So, here's how I approached this project this month. I never intended to take only twelve photos. I knew I needed more trial and error till I got what I wanted. I started the day planning to photograph our separation in the morning and our coming together at the end of the day. I didn't focus on all the things that happened to me in between. As the day progressed, and as I looked through my few dozen photos,  I didn't rally stick to my theme. I ended up narrowing it down to 1) the pictures that showed the connections between us-the moments where our days intersect with each other, 2) some changes in the state of my home throughout the day, and 3) little moments of humor. Nothing uproarious, just little quirks that let me know that no one in this family will let me take myself too seriously. And I love them for that.

1. I began the day snapping away, and Sam treated me to a mouthful of cereal. Yes, that was on purpose.

2. Dave and Max catching the early morning news and weather-every day at 7 am sharp, we switch from Animal Planet (Chimp Eden, I love you) to Fox 5 News. Note how sophisticated and sharp Dave's pose is? That's for posterity.

3. Waiting for the school bus; no matter what, we always do this together. Even when Dave or I have a day off, we always wake up in time to say goodbye at the bus stop. Sometimes there are surly goodbyes, but we are always all there.

4. I love when I manage to leave a nice clean apartment to come home to at the end of the day.

5. Not always, but sometimes, when Dave's not riding his bike to work, and he has to be there on the earlier side, we walk to the train station together.

6. About once a week, Dave and I can get home before the kids, and we usually have time for a cup of coffee and an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

7. Sam shared some chocolate with me. I didn't even ask for any. Good boy.

8. Homework. Long division to be exact. I am usually on call for math, science, and Judaic studies. Dave gets to help with writing and social studies. I love not having to help with writing and social studies.

9. Max is getting tired of all the photo taking. But, I think he looks good.

10. What my clean apartment looks like when we are all home. This was not a bad day for messes. But somehow Sam's homework takes up a big chunk of the living room table and floor.

11. Dinner. Together. I'll have to work on capturing it all. Lots of conversation, and joking around.

12. Post dinner, pre-bedtime. Dave gets some work done and Max spends lots of time on his ipod-usually messaging his friends.

What I take away from this month:
I really focused on capturing some of our daily routines, and in that way, I guess I really had a plan. I realize that almost all of my pictures are in our living room, and at first I worried that this might be a bit dull. But, then I realized that is our life. We like our home, and we really do spend a lot of our time in it together in this space. Living in a two bedroom apartment, means that when we are home, we are together. There's no going upstairs, or being down in the basement. We all read in the living room, we eat there (well, in the kitchen, but it's all open), Sam plays there, I scrap there, Dave works there, and Max ipods there, and we share our love of TV there. I certainly crave some personal space (I've had actual dream of discovering new rooms), but I also recognize the gift that we have, what with being in each other's face all the time.

For future months, I'd like to focus a little more on stretching my photography, capturing some new places, new perspectives, and definitely some better lighting.

How did your first day go?