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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

vacant portraits

These are a few of my favorite pictures of my kids. I snuck out to the deck after their swim classes began and snapped an image of their towels and shoes, just how they left them; mismatched, wrecked Crocs and all. 




Do you ever take pictures like these? Maybe of their room, after they have been playing? Or the breakfast table right after ever one has left (with milk puddles and cereal all over)? What about their nightstand loaded down with the treasures collected earlier in the day?






I find these images much more poignant than stiff portraits or even snapshots with kids hamming it up. It shows what is left when their huge presence is gone. Which sometimes is not a whole lot, and sometimes  the empty space expands to fill my heart.





I plan to continue taking more pictures of our dirty dishes, bathtubs full of toys, and the other detritus of our life together. They serve as a reminder to slow down and pay attention to the smallest details of our domestic life.  It is in those details that the magic lives. 

I would love it if you would share your pictures of the quiet and forgotten bits of your life.  Just leave a link in the comments. 

2 comments:

  1. I love these photos and your thoughts about them...although, "vacant portraits" doesn't seem apt...these portraits still seem very full.

    ReplyDelete
  2. good point - it does seem like a negative title. i guess i mean vacat of people, but yes, not vacant at all. maybe the perfect word will pop in my head today:)

    ReplyDelete

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