School’s back in session: four ideas for intentionally documenting this year in your family’s life, from Columbus photographer Sarah Esposito

Aug 16

I’m writing this on the eve of my daughter’s first day of first grade. It seems that summer passed in a blink, as we tried to catch up on all that we had lost during the past two pandemic-summers. While we truly made the most of summer, I’m quite honestly feeling worn out and ready to settle back into a routine. Each year I have the intention of documenting our life in some sort of organized way, but it seems I get carried away on my long to-do list, blindly flying through life without a road map. That said, one thing I always make time for is our annual family photo session. The resulting images bring me such joy that only increases over time, and it’s become something for our family to look forward to each year. In addition to that, I’ve come up with a few other ideas for intentionally documenting your family that are both doable and fun. Read on to discover, and if you have some ideas of your own that you’d like to share, send me an email about it!

*My daughter sipping a peach smoothie during our annual trek to Branstool Orchards for sunflower picking*

Ditch the phone and let your kids participate in the documenting
I say “ditch the phone” because in my experience it goes pretty quickly from “Mom, can I use your phone to take a pic?” to mindlessly scrolling around. I find the presence of phones to be such a distraction and the antithesis of together time. But my kids DO love to take photos, so in addition to gifting them my old point and shoot digital cameras, I recently purchased one of those little polaroid cameras (Fujifilm’s Instax) for my family to use. It has brought us SO MUCH JOY. Admittedly, the photos are low-quality, but we have so much fun using the camera and then passing the photographs around afterwards that it more than makes up for it. We literally never sit around going through iphone photos together in the way that we do our little polaroids. My kids so appreciate the instant gratification and magic of watching their photos develop before their very eyes. They’re then strung up on cork boards with little clothespins, hanging on the refrigerator in Instax magnetic frames, or tossed in a basket that sits on the coffee table for everyone to enjoy. I highly recommend getting yourself one! Alternately you could use an old point-and-shoot camera, but remember to routinely print out your favorite images!

*My daughter with the Instax. How cute is that little camera?*

2. Create a plan to document with intention.

I know we parents usually do a good job of capturing those back to school portraits on the first day of school, but what if you took it a step further and made it a goal to take your child’s portrait each month? You could even include a little survey to go along with it, with some generic questions like favorite book/song/school lunch, but also some deeper questions like “what’s one goal you’d like to set for yourself this month,” “what’s one thing you’re proud of,” “describe an act of kindness you saw this week.” (I’ve got a million more). Then you could create a little album to gift your child with at the end of the school year. GREAT IDEA SARAH - I’m going to do this one too!

*A portrait of my daughter from April. I like incorporating the season into the image whenever possible, to create a sense of time and place.*

3. Keep a journal for your kids to read in the future.

I started doing something similar to this after my kids were born. Every year on their birthday I write each of them a letter, telling them all about their year, their personalities, and how much I adore them. The letters are stowed away in journals that I’m keeping for them to read should I pass unexpectedly (or once they are adults). Is it a little morbid? Maybe, but I don’t want them to ever be unsure of how deeply they are loved.

This is an idea that would also work over a shorter period of time, and may even be MORE beneficial to their confidence and well-being as they move through the sometimes murky waters of adolescence. Try writing in it once a week (or even once a month) during a single school year, with the plan of gifting it to your child at the end of the year or letting them read it when they’ve had a bad day. They may not be open to a conversation about how wonderful you think they are (depending on their age), but they’ll certainly be receptive to a letter.

4. Get your family’s photos taken on a regular basis, and make it meaningful.

Is there an annual tradition your family holds dear? Or a family reunion coming up during which you’d love to document your beloved family members? Are your kids growing and changing so rapidly they’re hardly recognizable a year later? These are all great reasons for hiring a professional photographer to document and bare witness to the most treasured relationships in your life. The best thing about booking a family photography session with Heart Sung Photography is that I’ll help you get high-quality prints and albums delivered directly to your door in a timely manner, so that you and your family can actually ENJOY the results of your photo session. No adding it to your never-ending to-do list, and then feeling frazzled at the overwhelming number of printers and products to choose from. I’ve carefully curated the offerings in my store to bring you a small selection of high-quality, unique print products for you and your family to enjoy. My favorite is the velvet lay-flat photo album, because it gives your kids a reason to settle into your lap and read it together like a good book AND it is a work of art in itself.