Archive for the ‘ photography ’ Category
I’ve started a new photoblog. A space just for me, documenting me. It’s a theme-based 52-week photography project capturing motherhood as I live and breathe it. I encourage you to join me. Turn your camera around and focus on you for a change. You don’t have to have a fancy camera to do it. Your camera phone will do. It’s a strangely liberating experience.
Picture yourself.
Picture motherhood.
I had an exceptionally lovely day yesterday. I loved it, not because it was grand, but because it was an ordinary weekend day. Because, you see … every weekend, the hubby tries as best as he can to give me a break from the monotony/stresses of my week. I’m allowed to be lazy without guilt.
I loved yesterday because I got to experience some of my favourite things …
Sleeping in. Pancakes for breakfast. A trip to Chapters with the boys. A tall mocha. An hour and a half of alone time. The hubby’s special ribs for dinner. Catching up on my favourite TV shows.
Most of all, I loved waking up to the sound of my little guys’ voices (who were busy helping the hubby clean the family room) and being greeted with a loud chorus of “Happy Mother’s Day!” when I finally showed my bleary-eyed self downstairs. The boys were coached by the hubby, no doubt, but it was still lovely, lovely to hear.
No, yesterday wasn’t grand. But there is such loveliness in my everyday. My weekend day, made special every week by the hubby and the boys.
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me and 8-day-old Little Dude
I had meant to write a different sort of Mother’s Day post, yesterday. I found this self-portrait, taken on the 8th day of being a mom, to go along with it but didn’t get beyond uploading the photo. The hubby’s invitation for some snuggle time in front of the tube after the boys finally settled down for the night was just too hard to pass up.
A belated happy mother’s day to all the moms out there.
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This week’s i ♥ faces theme is “celebrating moms”. I did not submit an entry but I encourage you to check out all the lovely mommy photos by clicking on the button below.
Every once in a while something on the Web will make me roar with laughter. Usually, it’s a blog post that puts me in an uncontrollable giggle fit. Recently, it’s been this week’s i ♥ faces “then and now” photo challenge.
I’ve been inspired by the 50+ entries to date and have come up with my own “then and now” of Little Dude. It’s more cute than funny. Perhaps tomorrow, if the planets align properly, I will have one of LittleR Dude, too.
age: 2 months
age: 4 years
Go check out the other entries by clicking on the button below and give in to a good hearty belly laugh or two.
Shutter Sisters’ OWP word for May is everyday. For my boys, everyday involves some form of playing, as well as reading, which translates to a whole lot of toys and books strewn around everywhere. Everyday clutter that doesn’t necessarily get put away everyday. Everyday objects declaring to the world (or at least those people who dare visit our home) that there are young children living in this house.
I love this photo, not only because I’ve captured an intimate moment between the hubby and the boys, but because it shows how we live everyday. The train set above their heads … an evolving work-in-progress project for the boys. The baby quilt on the left … my attempt to keep the snotty noses and drool off the sofa. The crumpled change mat near the hubby’s feet and the white storage unit housing LittleR Dude’s diapers and wipes, as well as the boys’ books and toys.
The photo is simply us, everyday.
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I couldn’t help but also share this photo taken before the one above. I had just bought a book called The World’s Greatest Poem and the hubby decided to read it while lying down on the floor. Little Dude followed suit, plopping himself on top of the hubby. Then LittleR Dude, after a brief struggle, managed to lie on top of his older brother. This three-tiered human tower unfortunately didn’t last very long. Or rather, it took me awhile to compose myself before I remembered to get my camera. And, as life would have it, my speedlight flash batteries died a horrible death after only a couple of snaps. I managed to salvage this badly exposed shot of the trio.
The 1st photo was taken with my point & shoot.
Nose bleed blood splatter reminiscent of a scene from a CSI episode wiped down. Pee stench emanating from the main floor toilet and vicinity partially removed. Four-year-old’s pants dripping with pee changed. These moments define my past hour.
The hubby is out-of-town again so I turn to photography (and coffee) to take me to a happy place.
Ahhhh. I feel better.
As the boys get closer to being school-aged, I find myself thinking how much I’m looking forward to a routine of alone-time … an elusive occurence that I seem to chase after almost daily. Shopping. Eating. Going to the bathroom. Reading. Surfing the Web. Soon (1 year and 5 months from now, to be exact), I will enjoy a 6-hour window when I can engage in these ordinary activities without a child underfoot, demanding for my attention.
Today, the hubby and I resorted to chaperone tag and took turns minding the boys while the other looked through the clothing and book racks. It was a far cry from our pre-baby days when we shopped and walked the aisles at a leisurely pace.
As I watched the boys turn one of the clothing racks into a fort, I’m reminded once again of how childhood/youth/life is fleeting. No longer bound to a stroller, the boys walk around freely. How fast they’re grown. And, I think to myself, for all the times I’ve thought that the future cannot arrive fast enough, I’ve spent an equal amount of time reminiscing about the days gone by.
In truth, the boys will always be the centre of my world. My hope is that this world will one day make a little more room for me.
Fishing with a broken branch. Balancing on rocks near the river. Skimming stones. Eating ice cream. Napping. Biking. Rolling and racing down the hilly path near our house. Such was our day. It was a very good Friday, indeed.
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I watched this scene through my camera lens … my husband, standing behind my 2 1/2 year-old, with one hand ready in case LittleR Dude falters on the rocks. I held my breath and felt an urge to intervene. Knowing when to hold our children’s hands and when to let them go to explore the world is a delicate tightrope we walk as parents. My husband is a braver soul than I am. My children and I are lucky.
Shutter Sisters’ OWP word for April is hold, a word that conveys such powerful images and thoughts for me. We embrace … clutch … grab … confine … and, yes, hold on to many things in life. Our possessions. Our past. Our youth. Our children. Our family. Our spouse. Ourselves. Motherhood (and life, in general) is all about holding on. And, taking hold. At times, holding in. And, holding back.
Today, I offer you a photograph of me with my arms wrapped around my youngest son … a quick blackberry snap taken by my husband last year and digitally edited by me. It’s one of the very few images of me in our massive digital photo library … the first photo I thought of when I saw the word hold.
This image reminds me of one of my current ongoing battles with LittleR Dude, now 2 1/2. He’s beginning to reject naptime. “I don’t want to cuddle, mommy,” he insists but often succumbs to sleep only a few minutes after being rocked.
Cuddle time. Our down time. I’d like to hold on to this quiet, tender moment forever. I hold him sleeping in my arms longer than I need to because I know that, soon, this routine will pass. One day, I will have no choice but to let go.
This post begins with an old photograph.
I’ve been sifting through my digital collection, particularly those taken with my blackberry. For all its convenience, cell phone photography has produced many mementos of special moments with the boys … mementos soon forgotten … often times, forgotten the second I took the picture.
Today, I smiled at each rediscovery. And for many images, it seemed I was seeing them for the first time … like this photograph of Little Dude surrounded by bubbles. Eyes laughing. Thrilled beyond belief. So much so that he appears to be biting his arm, perhaps, in an attempt to contain his excitement.
Today, as I look at this image, I’m reminded of how much my little boy has grown. Then 2 1/2 and playful. Now 4 and trying, more than ever, to assert his independence. His attempts, at times, are way more aggressive and forceful than I would like.
Yet, he remains a little boy. My Little Dude. Bubbles still excite him. His eyes still sparkle with overjoy. Making my heart melt with tenderness. And for a moment, the struggles of the day are forgotten.
About the same time last year, I wrote a post justifying my blog … my need to write down my experiences raising two boys, not in a private journal, but using a public online medium. Today, I’m not as insecure. Blogging has been incredibly therapeutic this past year. I’m grateful for the outlet as well as the support from mom bloggers. But these days I find myself documenting my tales of motherhood more through photographs.
The joy of motherhood. The chaos. The everyday. Photographs seem to capture them much more vividly than I ever could in words. Sites like Shutter Sisters and Vision and Verb inspire me.
The boys are growing up fast. They are no longer babies. I look at old photos and am surprised at how much I’ve forgotten. Old photographs transport me back to times when they were more fragile. Less mobile. I can almost smell their sweet baby smell again. And feel the soft spot on their head. Hear them gurgle in their sleep.
I don’t want to completely forget. So I take photographs. And, sometimes, I write.
Even as I curse stepping on yet another die-cast car or having to navigate around the wooden train tracks in the family room, I know that one day I will look at the photographs of these everyday objects … evidence … of motherhood and become nostalgic for the days when life was simpler. Easier.
There is a lot of madness in motherhood. And tears. But what will resonate the most in the photographs already (and not yet) taken will be my boys’ laughter. And the quiet innocence that can only come from a child.
Little Dude leaning over his highchair
I am the mother of two boys, Little Dude and LittleR Dude, and the wife of a wonderful guy who somehow manages to keep me grounded. I spend most days sleep-deprived and cranky and am grateful for the laughter and joy that interject my wonderfully chaotic life. Here are my snapshots, reflections and observations of everyday life.
tales from da motherhood 