Why childhood photos matter: an ode to documentary family photography
Let me tell you a little story about elbow pasta
It’s 12 o’clock, and I’m in the kitchen making lunch for my kids. It’s Monday, an ordinary day, and I’m doing something ordinary in my little, ordinary kitchen.
My 11-year-old daughter walks in, and her face lights up. “You’re making coquillettes!” This is how we call small elbow pasta in France. I smile at her as I drain the pasta and start filling up plates. Ordinary pasta, the easiest recipe in the world: just coquillettes, some butter and diced ham.
The meal of choice for days when I’m swamped with work and have just 15 minutes to feed my little ones.
But for some reason, my daughter is hopping around as if I had made the Hogwarts feast. Then she says: “I remember one day, I came home from dance class, I was so tired and cold. I took a shower, and when I came out, you had made me a plate of coquillettes with butter and ham. It was SO good”
I can see how excited she is.
And then suddenly, I get it. The sight of the small elbow pasta had triggered a warm, fuzzy feeling.
It was magic.
And in a 20 or 30 years time, she will keep getting that beautiful feeling whenever a plate of butter coquillettes is in sight.
You know what I’m getting at, right? Yes. Family and childhood photos are like little elbow pasta. They stir up memories, they make us smile, they bring a sense of peace. They help us remember how good it was to be loved and carefree.
How ordinary is it really?
I perceived the scene with my busy adult way of seeing things: an ordinary day, an ordinary meal, in my busy schedule that too often keeps me from seeing the magic in the little things, as children do.
But the truth is, our daily life is beautiful! It’s made up of all the little stuff that matters, that creates memories, that shapes the future, that helps us grow together and love each other more every day.
I’ll keep it in mind everytime I make tiny elbow pasta: why childhood photos matter. That sure is as cheesy as pasta gets but I love it, it makes me smile.
Our lives as parents are anything but ordinary, they deserve to be captured in photographs.
Decorating your home with your family photos is great self-care. It brings happiness, and helps children grow up feeling loved, boosting their self-esteem.
For us as parents, it serves as a constant reminder that we’re in this together. Even on gloomy days, our beautiful pictures help us remember: everything will be alright.
The photos are incredible,
An
it’s exactly what we wanted.
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I’m Aurélie, family photographer in Dublin, and I create timeless and heartfelt documentary photographs for loving families. Warm and honest storytelling for cheriched heirlooms of your little ones greatest treasure: their childhood pictures.
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