The January Photo a Day Project - week one {Sydney Child Photographer}

I love Summer holidays! The warm weather, the relaxed pace, spending family time together, the chance to catch up with people and the opportunity to watch my kids enjoy themselves. For the last few years I have participated in a project, a challenge of sorts, to take and publish a photo every day in the month of January to record this time in my family's life. Last year I couldn't keep up and I really regret not having that record to look back on. The project has been particularly rewarding for me this year as I have rediscovered the absolute joy of photographing my own children after a period of lacking any motivation to pick up the camera on my days off. I now have a beautiful collection of images recording a month in our life and I know we will always treasure them.

So I bring you week one of the January Photo a Day Project featuring my ever gorgeous Molly and Max.

January 1 - Hot Hot Hot
Today in Sydney was HOT! I think it got to 39 at our place so we headed over to my Mum's for a visit and a swim. The kids are getting so much more confident in the pool and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. This photo was taken by my mum so I could be in it for a change. While it's not completely within the challenge rules, it does satisfy another promise I have made to myself, that I will be in more photos in 2011 so my kids will have photos with their mum. I am being a whole lot more relaxed about a whole lot of things in 2011.



January 2 - iPhone Fun
Another hot day so we stayed indoors in air conditioned comfort. The kids spent some time in the afternoon playing Shrek Kart on the iPhones. I took quite a few but Molly's expression made this one the winner for today.



January 3 - The Cubby Under the Table
The unpredictable Sydney weather continues and today we had rain. I decided to turn our dining room table into a cubby for the kids with a few sheets and some pillows and it provided hours of fun. It's still set up now after they begged me to leave it for tomorrow. Today it's Max's turn for the awesome expression. He has the best laugh and I can hear it when I look at this shot.



January 4 - iPad Scrabble
After seeing a photo yesterday of a family playing scrabble I thought I would introduce Molly to the game. I am a long time fan and can't wait till I can play with both of my kids. To maintain the enthusiasm while she learns the game we played on the iPad. It is such a fun way to play. We used iPhones as the tile racks and you actually flick your letters off the iPhone and onto the iPad to play your word. Molly played really well and she beat me by 50 odd points. You can see Max in the bottom shot sulking becasue we were hogging the iPad AND both iPhones to play the game. Oh the injustice of it all!

My wonderful husband took these for me so I could be in the photo. I think he did an awesome job since I handed him the camera in manual, set to f/1.4 and with single point focus which he doesn't know how to toggle.

January 5 - Bobble Heads
We had some fun tonight with the ultra wide lens on the trampoline. The kids were in absolute hysterics when they saw these photos on the LCD screen. This was not at all what I had planned but I decided to go with the flow and this is where it took us. They look like a cross between aliens and Bratz dolls.



January 6 - Late Summer Afternoon
It was lovely to have the sunshine back again today. After dinner we ventured to the park across the road for a bit of bike riding and general fun in the playground. The light was lovely and the weather was perfect, warm with a gentle breeze blowing. If the sun hadn't set I think we might still be out there.

I took a lot of photos this afternoon. I am rediscovering the joy of photographing my own children during this challenge. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to download the images and fall in love all over again with your kids as you see them appear on the screen with their special individual expressions. The kids are enjoying it too (so far) because they haven't had a camera pointed at them much over the last year. When I had a break from client work, picking up the camera was the last thing I felt like doing. I hope I remember how enjoyable this is when I'm busy again. It's not work, it's therapy!



January 7 - Space Hopper Race
I left the photo a little late today so I asked the kids for a suggestion of what we could do. This was what they came up with. These space hoppers were a Christmas gift so it's good to see them get some use. Max thought it was hilarious to deliberately fall off halfway through every race. It seems he doesn't just stick out his tongue on the trampoline. I hope he doesn't end up biting it off with a heavier than expected landing!!



Stay tuned as I will bring you the remainder of the month over the next few days.