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Hey there! Something a little personal from me today. Like many photographers, I struggle to find the time to take enough photos of my children. Besides the constant iphone images.

So one day every month, for the coming year, I am going to pack my 5DII (the ‘good’ camera; kind of like using the ‘good’ china for the Sunday Roast, vs the rainbow Ikea plates) for the day, and capture whatever it is we get up to for the day. The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. The (mostly) beautifully ordinary. This month, I aimed to capture 11 images on the 11th day of the month (yesterday). There are just a few more than that, I dound it hard to cull any further. I was particularly attached to the least necessary of these images, the sink full of dishes. I do seethat is kind of whiney for me to include that one. But clearly I resent the amount of time which has to be spent doing these sorts of tasks, and I didn’t realise how much Until I was drawn to make this photograph instead spending more time outside kicking the soccer ball with Arch. Sometimes I can be a total martyr to the shrine of ‘how much work 4 children are’. But that is why a project like this is so great. It forces your attention to things just that little more. The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. Hopefully more of the latter.

So yesterday was a quietish day for us. Just hanging about the house, and one little errand for us all in the car. Lots of Rupert our little swedish chef (‘eegadishgadoo” anyone?), unpacking and repacking various cupboards. Ball kicking, tidying of rooms, some games; we have a very mixed-age ‘cheese’ game where you fish for cheese and mice heads with little sticks.  The feature of the weekend has really been Estella’s practice for Monday’s cello exam. I think I have heard her 3 pieces so many times that I could give the exam a go myself. There have also been a few spectacular artist meltdowns which I photographed (much to the maestro’s annoyance) but decided not to share, out of respect That’s how we ended up with some selfies, Estella and I. We had to have a ‘big talk’ about exams, pressure, and the various meanings of success. Which led to cuddles and laughter at the end.

11 photos are not much to capture the busy-ness and beauty of our lives. But it also not such a huge challenge as to defeat me before I begin, as the 365 photo-a-day project is. Sadly, I have struggled to complete even January photo-a-day projects in the past. But I am hopeful that because this is only one day a month, there is plenty of time for recovery and image processing, despite how busy I get. I really want to have more family photo books in my home. For the kids to fight over, along with the good china, when they are shipping me off the nursing home. Wish me luck!

I am also keen to follow other photographers (whether professional or not) on this project, as these things are always more fun in groups! So far I am following my dear friend Angie Baxter, the gorgeous Rowe Timson and also El Hogan (who I don’t actually know IRL ***waves hello to El***) but if you would like me to follow you too please pop your blog address in a comment below and I can’t wait to join in your fun!

Speaking of lamb roasts, I’m off to enjoy one now. Yum!