The Vaughan's Story in Virginia Beach

“The routines of housework and of mothering may be seen as a kind of death, and it is appropriate that they should be, for they offer the chance, day after day, to lay down one’s life for others. Then they are no longer routines. By being done with love and offered up to God with praise, they are thereby hallowed. ”

— Elisabeth Elliot

This is the second time I have gotten to take pictures for Camille.  The first was a couple of years ago at her Pop pop's home in Raleigh - one of my favorite photographic experiences!  Camille also came to a photography retreat I helped put on in Sonoma this past summer for a group of alumni from my Visual Storytelling class.  When I think back to when Camille took my class a few years ago, I had no idea I would see her again.  I certainly never thought I would one day call her "friend"!  

When I started trying to tell stories with pictures for families, it was out of a desire for real relationships.  I was not satisfied with the matching white shirts and fake smiles found in traditional family portraits and wanted a deeper interaction with families.  Documenting real life without posing or manipulating is hard.  There are no guarantees. No control.  But when I let go of my expectations and just let life unfold--  the results are always more beautiful and powerful than anything I could have constructed on my own.  

I see our ability to have meaningful, deep, human relationships as a wonderful reflection of our restored relationship to our Creator.  That is why Jesus came-- to make a way for us to have a relationship with God.  No longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15).  Real relationships are not easy.  Just like Jesus - they require denying yourself, risk, sacrifice, and long suffering but the rewards are always worth the cost.  

I am so thankful for the relationships I have formed through photography.  And for families that, like me, are not satisfied with family photos which only convey the shallow surface of their lives. I know my method is not perfect and my desire is to continue to figure out ways to tell genuine stories for others.  But it sure has been fun trying!  

P.S. If you are on your phone scroll down to the end of the page to see some of my East Coast travel locations in June.  If you are on your desktop just look at the right sidebar.  

The Tonetti Spellman's Story in Westchester, NY

Try as I might, I cannot beat these words Jennifer Tonetti Spellman wrote this fall after I photographed her family.  

““To be able to see how others see your life, your family, your home.

It’s what I provide to my clients, but never before has it been provided to me.

There was only 1 person to do that ‘job.’ The very gifted Molly Flanagan.

For you see, she is a true documentarian. She doesn’t switch things around in your home. She doesn’t worry about ‘resting’ faces. She doesn’t drag you to pretty light to get the shot.

She shoots your life.. as it is.

And when our life was about to drastically change, I reached out.

And cross country she came.

Literally the day after I came home from the hospital, there was the knock at the door at 8am. A bit overwhelmed by the entire situation of new life, all of us a bit bleary-eyed, our ‘new’ story began.

Come watch Molly tell it like only her eye could.”

Thank you, Jenn, for allowing me into your home during such a private and important time in your life!  I am completely honored to have photographed your family and thankful to call you friend!  

See more from this session here on Jennifer's Blog

THE FERGUSON'S STORY IN PHILADELPHIA, PA

I have met so many wonderful people around the world through photography and Elizabeth Ferguson is one of my favorites.  Elizabeth did a  mentorship with me not long after she was out of college.  Then she took my Visual Storytelling class.   Then I had the honor of photographing her wedding a couple of years ago.  And this fall I photographed her and Pat with their first baby!

Elizabeth and Pat rent an apartment above the "carriage house" at her mom's house.  Their apartment is completely adorable and Elizabeth's mom's house is one of the most beautiful homes I have seen.  It has cool old latch door knob-things and a secret room at the top of a secret staircase and huge fire places and if I lived there I would never ever leave the house.  She was gracious enough to put up my whole family for a couple of nights while we were in Philadelphia. The whole time we were there the weather was terrible.  It poured and poured and poured rain.  And they poured and poured and poured hospitality upon our family. So much food and coffee and card games and Labradoodle snuggles and wonderful conversations and friendship.  We felt overwhelmed with affection and care and I am not lying when I say that I shed a couple tears waving good-bye from our car when it was time to leave. 

““Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.””

— Mother Teresa

You can see some pictures from Elizabeth and Pat's backyard wedding here.

Documentary Family Session in Philadelphia, PA

I sometimes worry that my pictures appear boring to those that find their way to this space. And I wonder if I should try to photograph something more exciting than babies having their diapers changed or parents pushing little ones on the swing.  But the truth is, babies grow out of diapers and children learn to pump their legs on the swings.  Normal, boring days turn into complicated ones with algebra and puberty and scars and gray hair and retirement savings.  And (I am assuming) we will look back longingly for the simple boring days when our kids were small.     

During the current run of my Visual Storytelling course student Andrea Wolfe shared the following quote, by Mary Jean Irion (who, as it turns out is from Pennsylvania just like the family in the pictures below.)

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.”

— Mary Jean Irion

Let us not forget in the sea of legos and barbie shoes that normal is a treasure. 

Learn more about a Storytelling Session in your home

The Bowser's Story in Clinton, Mississippi

A few years ago I made a photographic bucket list.  One item on the list was photographing a "large family".  And after meeting Heather Bowser's family of 15 in Clinton, Mississippi, I finally got to check that off my list!  

The kids' ages range from 9 months to 22 years and at the moment all the kids are living at home.  So, Heather wanted to document this season as it will soon change.  I was expecting their home to be out of control with kids running around like wild animals, but it was quite the opposite. It felt sort of like 3 mini families living under one roof.  Kids sticking with those whose ages were closest to their own but also mingling with others from time to time through out the day.  The older kids went to work, the middle ones did school, the little ones played and napped and Heather gracefully wove through the little groups of children.  Then everyone came together in the evening for dinner and swimming. In many ways, It wasn't much different than any other family.     

Heather asked if my husband and I planned to have more children.  I blathered something like, "Oh we are DONE.  I had varicose veins with Oliver. And the kids are so crazy and I am tired.  We are SO done."  Then I realized I was talking to a lady with 13 children and all of my reasons felt trivial.  Heather did not mind so much about the veins or the crazy or the tired.  I still think we are done, but watching Heather and Lance with their children made me very aware of all of the things that I selfishly cling to:  my time, my body, my money, my space.  In my life, those things are meant to be hoarded.  For the Bowsers, they are meant to be spent.  C.S. Lewis said,

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

Lance and Heather Bowser are a tremendous example of the fruit of sacrificial love.  Their hearts are laid open -- trampled, stretched and covered in smudgy fingerprints.  Yet their hearts are beating strong.    

Molly Flanagan Photography:  Family Storytelling Photographer based out of Anderson, South Carolina

Click here to learn more about my Visual Storytelling course offered in January.