While you’re imagining all those other families have more glamorous lives than you, they’re just making dinner and having quiet conversation. They’re tired from a long day at work - just like you - and they, too, are looking to reconnect with loved ones.

So fall for your life. Fall in love with real.

There were wardrobe changes, girls getting ready with lots of hysterical laughter and good vibes, kids being kids (read: jumping off couches and playing pretend shooting games), and even some serious dabbing. There was Bollywood-posing outside by the tree, and delicious food and hot coffee and the inauguration coverage from the previous day completely faded into the background for a couple of hours.

I'm well versed in traveling with children, painful road trips, scrambling for ideas to distract the little people in the back, without being able to explain why it's taking so long, or tell a white lie like, "we're nearly there". 

But life is not a race. Make time for the pit stops. 

Have you ever wished you could have an authentic, all-encompassing photographic story of your family’s life?

Not a last-minute portrait session before the holidays, or a mad scramble to don matching outfits and smiles in front of a curtain, but a real, honest-to-goodness portrayal of the crazy, quiet, cozy, obnoxious, loving, warm, or plain inexplicable moments your family burns through in a single year?

Today it snowed again. It's still not officially winter, but I've got a roaring fire going and some light music, too much coffee, and two sleeping dogs. Lots of inspiration for this blog post, a collection of my favourite images from 2016 depicting snuggle and smooch moments. 

When I shot on auto for years, whether I got real good stills of motion or blurry ones kind of depended on external factors. How much light was coming in, mostly. I'm into limitations, so it was a little bit neat to wait and see what turned up.

I have tremendous respect for photographers who are good at posing their clients, getting the best angles of their faces, and achieving beautiful portraits as a result. It's hard to do it well, so it earns a huge tip of my proverbial hat.

Me? I'm maybe not one of those photographers.

Interesting photography can happen anywhere. Even at the pool. When the kids are young are you are running them from one place to another, finding the little moments becomes a big thing. Many people overthink it, though. Myself included.