Photographs are windows to our memory. Reflections of our life. Reminders of our blessings. Each Wednesday we are featuring 5 personal favorite photos from a Creative Team member or a friend. These 5 photos will remind of us why photography is so beautiful and why documenting the everyday is so important. The goal is to leave us all a little more inspired to cultivate a good life and record it.

Our inspiration this weeks comes from – Creative Team member Jessica Sprague.

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{ a quick note from Jessica }

Whew! So much has happened this year, it makes my head spin a little! But my favorite parts of the year by FAR are the times I get to spend with my beautiful family. I chose 5 photos that represent events, big and small that are great memories we’ve made together this year.

One of my not-so-secret secrets is that except for really major events, I’ve stopped taking my big DSLR with me everywhere. Not only does it lighten my load physically, I feel like it takes the pressure off to capture a “perfect” moment. My replacement? My trusty iPhone, and most often, Instagram. This year I’ve found that I enjoy my experiences, (my life, really) more when I am snapping a quick pic or two with my phone, rather than participating in the event “second hand” on the flip side of my 20-70mm lens.

That’s why all of the photos I’ve chosen to share are Instagrams – most of my 2012 photos are! I’m a huge, huge fan of Gramfeed, which allows me to look at all my Instas in a gallery. I can share the link with my friends and family, and choose to include only my photos, or all the photos from the people I follow as well. It’s definitely Insta-gratification. *wink* In addition, I can pull the Instagrams directly in to Photoshop as I’m working on my digital Project Life this year, making finding and opening photos a snap! (Ha! See what I did there! Snap!)

I chose these five photos as representative of my family and our year so far. These memories are what inspire me to keep taking pics, to keep making an effort to record our lives, and to keep seeking adventures that bring us closer together.

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I took this first photo on February 4 of this year, just outside our church building. Rowen was baptized on her 8th birthday, and all of her grandparents and many of her cousins were able to come to our special occasion (a rare treat since they all live far away). Her grandma made the white dress she is wearing. She looks like a sweet angel, and this was a very special time for us. This reminds me that I need to record both the everyday events AND the big milestones in our lives. This combination is what really makes the fabric of life so beautiful and interesting.

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I love this photo for the movement it creates, as well as for the special time – this summer I’ve taken every Friday out from my regular working schedule to spend the day with my kids. On this trip we went to the Children’s museum , and this is Elliott playing with one of the giant hula hoops there. It reminds me of our summer Friday outings this summer, and how much fun we’ve had together, just us three.

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 This is Rowen in our neighborhood pool, which is down the block from our house. The kids are becoming avid swimmers (their mama is not), and we’ve spent plenty of time at the pool this summer beating the heat!

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This photo is of my awesome husband carrying Elliott as we walked through a craft fair in Cary, NC. We try to spend our Saturdays together as a family, and we LOVE to find new and different things to experience together. Collecting memories is what life is all about!

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My last photo is from a fun park in Durham, NC called Frankie’s – it has video games, laser tag, mini golf, go-karts, and lots of other stuff we love! Elliott and I both chose mustache mood rings as our ticket prizes, and HAD to pose with them. We have had some great times at Frankie’s (and I will say that I have gotten really good at some of the arcade games, hehe). It lets us all experience our inner geeks.

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You can learn more about Jessica here, and check out more of her everyday photos and Project Life pages on her blog.

Tags: creative team, everyday pictures

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 at 6:00 am and is filed under photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.