DIL Documentary Session ~ November Camera Day

It's time for my November edition of my "Camera Day" where I take my camera with me everywhere I go! My kids are really starting to hate this day. HA! This time, I decided to do strict documentary style. That means, I was not allowed to direct or change anything, just observe and capture. No turning off lights, no asking Nora to move to the window . . . nothing. I also had to deal with teens who do NOT appreciate being documented. But I was determined to do it nonetheless, so I told my Ethan that I wouldn't ever get his face in the shot, and he was ok with that. Then we had a big discussion about why in the world I even want to do this.

So, one reason is because I am just trying to shoot every day, do personal and creative shoots, and Just get better and grow, right? And also because I was taking a documentary class, and I wanted to give that a go. But why do my camera day? It's my journal right now. I'm not necessarily blogging regularly on my personal blog, I'm not even currently writing in my daily journal/to-do list because I'm too busy even for that! So how do I tell the story of our lives right now, from the crazy mess that I don't have time to clean up to the silliness of Nora changing into 5 dress-ups per day? I take pictures. That's it. 

This day, I took 1400 photos and narrowed it down to around 400. Yikes! I think I finally edited around 100. I'll share WAY less than that here, of course, but wow, it was an interesting exercise to really document our lives, instead of slowly watching for artistic moments. Of course, I still tried to do it artistically . . . 

I actually got some of my very favorite shots this day. I love it! Documentary is definitely something I am drawn to, and even though I sometimes feel like there's a laziness to it, there are definitely challenges as well! 

So here you go. A typical November Day In the Life of Cami Turpin. :)
 

Nora and Luna both get up and going long before we are all ready for it.

This is our drive to the charter school for spectrum kids. My own son sits in the back for some reason, and anyone in the car is on a device. Not great, but with this bunch, it's really best . . . 

We call this the "bumby bumby" and it is ever-present in our lives.

Nora waxed creative today with some coloring.

Obligatory documentary nose pick.

For some reason, Nora decided to climb onto the counter and "wash her hands" for a good 20 minutes and made a huge mess. 

Walking Luna. 

She's about to throw that handful of woodchips at me.

Jane coming home and being pretty silly.

Of course Nora had to jump in with this little friend since he was chasing down Jane in his little car!

Not a typical documentary pic? Nora turned on the fog machine, opened up those shutters, and asked me to take pictures of her jumping and lying on the bed. She was recreating a photo shoot we had done a few weeks before!

Who knows what she was crying about. Maybe that preschool wasn't til the next morning?

Changing clothes for the umpteenth time, and she came out in this towel.

Tweens singing to Tay-Swift on the way to gymnastics.

We wore Nora right on out.

After nap grumpiness and crazy hair from taking out the "kitty ear" little buns on the top of her head.

Daddy washing her hair.

Typical sister time. {eyeroll}

Oldest doing his "homework." 

More family lounging about time. Why is it always in my room?

My attempt to get in the frame, but this broke some documentary rules . . . 

Jane doing her chores. This is pretty typical.

And the only documentation I have of Ethan, and a pretty good explanation about why this is all he'd allow. :)

And that is our typical November day! You'll notice it's mostly Nora, but she's the one that's home . . . and willing to have photos taken. I hope you enjoyed our little foray into documentary style, and maybe we'll revisit this another time. 

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