If you’ve followed my blog long enough, you know how grateful I am to my parents – particularly my dad – who had a great influence on my love for documenting the everyday. Photography was one of his little hobbies. Funny enough, I really don’t even have memories of my dad behind the camera because I don’t recall him getting our attention and saying “cheese”. He just captured life.

The more vivid memories I have are of him changing out the light bulb in our basement bathroom to the red bulb because that’s how he transformed the little bathroom into a dark room. I loved being in there watching him develop pictures. He invited me to help him as we carefully placed the photo paper in the thing (that clearly I don’t even know what it’s called!) where the light shone through the negative, impressing the image onto the paper. We would then dip the photo paper in the first fluid and then the next and then we would rinse the paper before setting out the photos to dry.

What a sense of satisfaction that was – to develop photographs. I went on to learn more about the dark room with more formal training in high school and I can still smell those chemicals today. Oh, how the times have changed. I appreciate my fond memories, but I’m so grateful that digital photography is what it is today.

Even still – the art of documenting the everyday doesn’t have to be tied to what kind of camera or technology or printer you’re using. It’s about noticing the little things that make up life. And that’s what we’re all trying to do. Here are 10 photos from my own childhood that inspire me on what to document today.

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Photo Idea no. 1: Photograph where you watch television – and don’t forget to get the TV in the picture because trust me – it will look like a dinosaur one day.

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Photo Idea no. 2: Photograph their collections. Everyone collects something. Maybe your husband collects fishing gear or your sister collects shoes or your child collects key chains. Apparently I went through a phase of collecting stuffed animals. Raise your hand if you feel a little nostalgic seeing Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Dolls in there.

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Photo Idea no. 3: Photograph them concentrating. Try to capture a loved one as they focus, while they’re in the zone, as they study, whatever. This is one way to get a glimpse of someone’s personality without them smiling at the camera. My dad captured my love for drawing. Apparently using the kitchen trash can was completely acceptable for whatever ideas I had to get on paper at the time. Whatever works, right?

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Photo Idea no. 4: Photograph bedtime rituals. It might seem silly to capture something like the kids brushing their teeth, but to this day – it’s one of my favorite shots. Because it wasn’t a special occasion. It wasn’t a trip or a birthday. It was a daily ritual, an everyday routine. The essence of real life. And apparently my idea of brushing teeth was that as long as the toothbrush was in my mouth, my teeth would magically get clean. So that’s where Claire gets that from!

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Photo Idea no. 5: Photograph their quirks. We all have quirks, and not just a few. My lifetime quirk is how I compartmentalize. In this picture I’ve sorted rocks, sticks, and pine cones. Today I compartmentalize emails, work flow, laundry, and sometimes even my conversations. Our team had a meeting recently where Kari and Laurie were giggling about the fact that I couldn’t move on to the next topic until I felt like we totally had closure on what we were talking about first. Gotta keep things compartmentalized.

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Photo Idea no. 6: Photograph breakfast. Simple, I know. But one day you’ll look back – they’ll look back – and you’ll love seeing the spot where you eat and what you’re eating. I always had to have the cereal box right in front of me so I could study the back. And that little bowl next to my cereal bowl? Sugar, of course. Snap, Crackle, Pop.

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Photo Idea no. 7: Photograph them at work. Got teenagers earning a wage? I know, I know. Chances are they wouldn’t love you popping into work to snap a picture but remind them of how you wish you had this from your own youth – or how you’re grateful you do have something to show for those earliest jobs (show them pictures of you working if you have them!). My first non-babysitting job was working at the Brunswick Dairy Barn – a little ice cream shop in my town. Hi! What can I get you today?

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Photo Idea no. 8: Photograph the work of parenthood. There are so many aspects of parenting that are downright exhausting, such as having a newborn. Even when life feels overwhelming, don’t let that deter you from capturing a few slices of that life here and there. Cameras aren’t designed for just the exciting times. Cameras are designed to capture LIFE – whatever that means at the moment. One of my favorite things about this picture of me and my sweet mama, is that I have a picture like this of me with each of my babies too.

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Photo Idea no. 9: Photograph what they’re reading. These were a few of my books as a teenager. Now – I didn’t take this picture as a teenager, but I came across some these books years after leaving home and snapped this picture so that I had a record (and so I wouldn’t feel obligated to hang on to books that I really didn’t care to cart around for years).

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Photo Idea no. 10: How shall I put this? Oh, what a treasure. First of all – we ALL look thrilled, don’t we? Those are my parents, my Grandpa Johnson, my brother Steven, and … that little princess? Yep. that’s me. Pleasant as a peach. Clearly throwing a fit about something. I don’t remember the story behind the photo, but this is why I wanted to share it: We are embarking on a season where many families, as tradition would have it, are having their family pictures taken. That’s great. I love this time of year.

But if you have a cranky one (heck – it could be your husband), or a misbehaving child during the photo session … don’t stress. We’re not aiming for perfection, people. We are aiming to document life. Capture personalities and relationships and REAL LIFE. In other words – when you get outtakes like these, don’t delete them. In fact, I would be so delighted if more people sent out Christmas card photos that look like this one.  ; )