The Family Photojournalist

In my endless web wanderings, I came across another photo site that I added to my list of favorites. It's called The Family Photojournalist, and it's pretty great. It's written by two guys, Chuck Anerino and Daniel Shaw, and on the blog, they post photos of their families and talk about how they took them. They write about wanting to tell a story with their family photos, not just take technically good, but out-of-context snapshots at birthdays and graduations.

Their style is simple, and lots of images are converted to black and white (which I actually think works well for this genre). The guys also talk about using mostly wide angles, which forces them to get close and remain a part of the scene, even as they're documenting it. We don't have kids yet, but I'm sure we will some day, and these are the types of photos I'd like to take of them.

It was also interesting to read this blog as a female photographer. One of their first few posts was a birth documentary by Daniel. How would I document that if I'm the one giving birth?! My husband knows his way around my cameras, and I have no doubt that he would be able to take some amazing photos of an experience like that. However, I will be our children's mother. There's no denying that I'll have a hand in most of what they'll do, growing up. I'm not saying this to be sexist, or to comment at all on the roles of mothers and fathers in raising children, but how many moments will I miss capturing on camera because my son or daughter "wants mommy" to put him or her to bed? I think it's worth thinking about. Our family's journey will no doubt be a unique one, and the different roles that my husband and I play will shape it.

The blog is young -- they started in January -- and I'll be interested to see how it evolves and read more about what these guys have to say.

Here's a shot by Chuck: