Keepin’ It Real | Real Life

Recently, a group of photographers and I decided to try out a new personal project — a blog circle.  What’s a blog circle, you ask?  Well basically, we all agree on a theme, we shoot for that theme, and we post our results.  The idea is that we all (and you all) get to see how different photographers interpret the theme in our words and photographs.  Kinda cool, right?

The overall theme we chose is “Keepin’ It Real” and there will be sub-themes based on this idea.  This month?  “Real Life.”  Sounds simple enough, and certainly consistent with the kinds of things I usually share here, but … I’ve found it to be a struggle.  You see, if you’ve kept up at all with my personal “Moments of the Month” posts here or are following my Instagram Feed, you know that I’m already sharing my “real life” on a daily or monthly basis.  It’s almost obsessive — my desire to remember all the little details has me whipping out my phone or camera all day long and freezing those moments to post here and populate my many photo books.  I don’t really want to post the same kinds of photos I’m already in the habit of sharing elsewhere, you know?  But how to bring something a little different to the blog through this new endeavor?  What’s to show that isn’t already being shown?

Well, I do have a little bit of a “real life” that happens when the tornado that is my family leave for school and work.  Taking pictures is, of course, a big part of it, but most of it happens right here.

Here, in my little office.  Which is really a hallway outside the first floor bathroom, on the way to the family room.  There’s a big office up on the third floor — I used to hide out up there when I was a work-from-home patent lawyer.  Now that my hours are less defined, I’d rather be closer to the action.  Even when “the action” is all away at school for the day.  This place is all mine.

If I’m not in my little office, I’m probably in my kitchen.  Piling up dishes in the (thankfully very deep) sink, or unpacking groceries, or getting ready for the next meal.  My kitchen has a much calmer feel about it when I’m the only one home.  Nobody’s traipsing through with muddy feet or spreading out on the kitchen table with homework or rummaging in the pantry for snacks.  My little “kitchen calendar” corner is what I count on to make sure that everyone gets where they need to be at any given time.  The boxes on that calendar get crowded, and I’m always trying to strike a balance between everyone doing what they want and everyone having time to do nothing.

I do love those hours alone — I’m not gonna lie.

Actually, I’m not really alone.  We’ve got two new pets now, and their names are Minerva and Butterscotch.  They belong to Emmett, and this is their space.  Want to see them?  Well, they’ll be featured in the upcoming March Moments of the Month post!

Thanks for looking, and be sure to continue around the circle and see what the other photographers in the group have done with this theme.  Next stop,  Rebecca Keller Photography!

~Jaye