A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

I adore this slightly out of focus, chubby legged, fast moving girl.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Some times(most times) lunch looks like this.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

I’m pretty sure she likes the Target baby section as much as I do.

I had 50 images to choose from today. Of those 50 I had a really hard time choosing between five. Those are great odds, and it makes me feel fantastic that I struggled to choose an image. I’m certain not all days will be like this. Some days I will find it difficult to produce an image. But today. Oh today, it felt easy. Natural. I remember what shooting feels like. What it’s feel like when you’re making a good image. I remember being asked in college why I chose an image to present. Why I took the photo. I didn’t completely know, but I knew it felt right. I’ve always shot on instinct. Used my gut. And it’s worked for me.

Don’t get me wrong,I know this is just a gorgeous portrait of my child. I understand its not same award winning piece of art. But I felt alive when I sat down to edit today. I felt it in my gut. I felt it in my heart. And that my friends, is a wonderful feeling.

I swear I wasn’t torturing my kid for photos. Although some day I think it’s entirely possibly she will tell you I was.

I decided to do this as a 365 project. The lovely Ama had some words for me that helped settle my internal debate. They don’t always have to be perfect. It’s about doing the work. I’m not sure if I will always post them daily. I may do weekly posts, but for now I will bring you a photo of this girl a day.

A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013

I can’t believe this is the last photo this year. 2013 was the first full year we spent with this girl. It was amazing. It was scary. It was wonderful. Becoming a mother has been such a strange and fulfilling journey for me. It’s like everything I never knew was missing showed up in this tiny little human. She has taught me so much already. I love being her mother, often more then I can express.

We had a bit of snow this last week, not as much as I would have liked, but enough to test out her snow boots. Don’t let this photo fool you, she didn’t really care for it. She couldn’t figure out how to move and became frustrated very quickly. I’m hoping we get another good storm so we can try again.

I’m still debating on next years project. Can I make a good photograph every single day? I love the challenge, the idea of pushing myself, of using my creative muscle. But I wonder if it would be too much. I don’t want to start and quit half way through the year. I will probably wait until the last minute to make the decision, my normal way of handling most creative endeavors.

My favorite last week was this photo of some little feet and her sparkly shoes.

Our Christmas was pretty perfect. This kid had a blast and seemed to instinctively know how to unwrap presents. My husband even managed to surprise us both with the toy ukulele we had been eyeing up at the store. Made this mama cry. I don’t think I could have asked for a better Christmas.

A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013

She is officially 15 months old. I’m not sure why but for some reason it feels a lot older then 12 months did. Maybe it’s the sudden onset of walking. And understanding. And communicating. She can actually understand what she wants now, and even better, communicate what that is to me. She walked pretty much the entire length of the mall with us tonight. It was adorable, and so wonderful. My husband told me it was easily one of the best days of his life. And all we did was spend time with family.

I love Christmas. And having this little munchkin running around, wearing an apron, eating an apple while her grandpa and I bake cookies makes it even better. Watching her face light up when she hears the chipmunk song(which she recognizes from the musical book her grandpa’s gave her), seeing her ooh and ahh over the lights and decorations. I can’t wait to see her go nuts tearing open gifts and playing with toys this week.

Last week these lovely shots were my favorites.