Photography is a crucial part to who I am. If you've been around a while, you'll know that I started a photo series in 2011. For my new years resolution I wanted to take one picture every single day. I wanted to document my life. 2011 was a big year for me, I moved out, started college and even met my future husband, and I had documented every day of it. I fell in love with having my story unfold before me through the images I took. They told my story, the good, bad, all of it. As 2011 came to an end, I decided to keep going, documenting every day of 2012, and before I knew it, it was 2019 and I have kept up this new years resolution for nearly a decade. 

     My "picture of the day" is one of my most accomplished projects. I have been able to tell the story of my life, day by day, but somewhere along the way, I noticed my photos were becoming "snap shots" depending on the day. If it was stressful or crazy, I cared more about taking the picture just to take the picture for the day. I would feel the release of anxious energy escape as I clicked the shutter. Not caring about the lack of composition, but more so that I "at least had a picture for the day." And not every day will be "Pinterest perfect" - but while this is something I've dedicated so much of my time to, I didn't want it to lose the spark that it had originated with. So, I decided to do something about it. 

    I decided that I wanted to be more deliberate with my photography. This was my life that I was telling the story of. I wanted my images to be able to capture my life the way I was living. In the age of digital, it is so easy to get snap happy and take tons of pictures. I decided that I needed to revert back to my film days, where I have a limited number of shots to make count. I've been able to take more quality images. Sometimes I catch myself snapping a picture vs composing a photograph, but I've been fast to remedy the situation. 

Take this picture for example, I stumbled upon this cute moment of Jones helping his grandma water the plants. I snapped the picture when I noticed that the bushes and plants would frame my mom in law and Jones perfectly from the other side. So I changed positions and was able to capture these beautiful photos of this simple, special moment between grandma and grandson. 

Same thing below with the two photos of Jones riding his scooter. I snapped the first image from where I was standing next to the stroller, but once I realized what I was doing, decided to walk the 6 feet over, crouch down and thoughtfully compose rather than snap. 

It's been refreshing to have this new outlook with everything; be more deliberate. Have purpose behind your actions. It is making me fall back in love with this series I started. I've loved bringing the magic and perspective back into my daily photographs. I challenge you all to be more deliberate with your actions and see the outcome it can have with your life.