Ever wondered what a full day in someone else’s life actually looks like? Do the moms have it “all together” or are they wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt, too? Is their house a Marie Kondo success or do they also have to summit Mt. Laundry every time they go down the hall? Do the kids actually wear clothes (unlike yours)?

When you get the chance to photograph families who truly let their guards down, you get such a wonderfully authentic look into our lives. And the best way to do this is through a documentary family session.

Let me show you a project I was part of earlier this year: A group of local documentary family photographers got together and photographed each other’s families in two-hour chunks all day long until we could show you a complete day.

What’s amazing to see is that no matter what part of town we live in, what season of life we’re weathering, or what languages we speak, we all have so many shared experiences. I saw myself in each and every one of these sessions and it was so reaffirming.

It was difficult to narrow down everyone’s images for this post, but here I am trying so you can see what a full day looks like as told through seven different families and seven different photographers:

The Morning Routine – Rosalind Williams

Heather’s family was up bright and early! I love all the little samples the kids were sneaking. It’s amazing what we don’t realize is happening behind our backs until someone else catches it!

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A Mid-Morning Walk to the Park – Chanda Williams

Barbara’s family then got ready for a walk to the park with their dogs. I love to see her on the floor, kissing on her teens – gives me hope that my kids will still love me in 10 years!

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Making Lunch and Hanging Out – Amanda Sloane

I then got to hang out with Kaleen’s family while they made lunch and played around the house and in the garage. There was lots of bed jumping, snuggling and even a smashed set of fingers (poor little guy!).

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Cheer in the Afternoon – Barbara Naso

This is something that’s so cool for me to see because I feel like it’s the next season of our lives. For now there are no cheer competitions (or soccer games or softball games, or, or…) but I know it’s coming our way soon!

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Winding down with ice cream and games – Kaleen Enke

I’m looking forward to the days when I can actually pop open a book with my kids around! So fun to watch Chanda out there playing basketball with her kids, too.

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Dinner and bath time – Kristin Watkins

You might recognize this crazy family! I was so excited to have Kristin photograph our dinner and bath routine. It’s so wild for those last couple of hours of our day and I couldn’t wait to see what I actually look like while parenting during all of it. I’ll write more on the experience later!

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The Bedtime Routine – Heather Tully

I’ll be honest – those images of Rosalind reading to her son made me tear up. I can feel that moment so deeply myself, as a mom. How beautiful to have it captured forever.

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Seem like the kind of thing you’d want to do with your family? Schedule a complimentary phone consultation with me here! We can chat about how a session like this works and figure out what you’d want to capture.