Spending the evening with The Gasparo Family was SO much fun. I laughed so hard several times. Between the goats, the dog, the chickens, the 2 younger wild children and their feisty youngest, I have never been more entertained!
Brittany really wanted to capture what life was like right now, so she hired me to photograph a typical evening for them. Documentary family photography is such a beautiful genre of capturing REAL life right now. If you can think back to the 80 and 90s and other decades of course, you will remember random photos from a disposable camera. In the age of disposable cameras, we didn’t curate the environment or the photo. We just took the photo. So it captured old couches, random stuff on coffee tables, it did not think about composition and light. It just TOOK THE PHOTO. It was RAW and REAL and I pray that we are finally moving back to that. I do see some progress that direction.
I am the only photographer in Nashville, that I know of, capturing REAL life. True documentary. True day in the life, doesn’t stage set ups. The photographer is JUST a fly on the wall, while the family does what they do. Brittany rocked this session by wearing what they normally wear, and not overly cleaning her home. The mess is apart of the REAL.
What I love about documentary is that all the family has to do is spend time together. They don’t have to look at the camera. They don’t have to wear specific clothing. They get to just BE. Be themselves, be together. and Do their favorite things. and it doesn’t have to be without incident. While there were few incidents in this session, I have seen full on tantrums. and that is OKAY! That is real life. I will probably try to capture it, as it is who that child is, it shows their entire personality and not just the cooperative side. Toddler tantrums can be funny later.
The better I know a family, the better the session. I try to spend more time the first time I am with a family, because it takes a little bit to know the personalities and to be comfortable with one another. It’s new and different. But once I know them, I know that their youngest will probably have a point where he gets really mad, because thats his personality. I know the older one might try to boss the younger ones. I know they might do something random in nature, like catching a frog. I wait for those moments to happen. I anticipate them.
To have your family documented, holler at me!
