NOW BOOKING: Seattle

I'm so thrilled to be booking sessions in Seattle this fall!
I'll be in town for Click Away 2016 and would love to photograph the local mamas and attendees!

I will be booking Mama & Me Mini Sessions October 7th & 8th and an in home session (perfect for a local family who is expecting or excited to celebrate their family through photos. A HUGE 50% DISCOUNT is available for Click Away attendees who send in their CA registration confirmation to hello@maeburke.com. I will send you a code good for your own Mama & Me mini session that will be held near the conference. There are only 8 total, available at a first come, first served basis.

please email me at hello@maeburke.com for any questions concerning these sessions

UPDATE!!!!!!
FAMILY SESSIONS SOLD OUT

To better accommodate more mamas + their babes, I've opened up more sessions Sunday afternoon at 3 pm in Discovery Park . The HUGE 50% DISCOUNT is still available for Click Away attendees who send in their CA registration confirmation to hello@maeburke.com before booking their session through my website here. I will send you a code good for your own Mama & Me mini session that will be held at Discovery Park starting at 3 PM. There are only 4 total, available at a first come, first served basis.

lifestyle vs documentary photography

My oldest dressed herself this morning and looked like the cutest little librarian I ever did see. She went into the kitchen and I saw a beautiful portrait opportunity so I grabbed my camera.
Our industry has seen a steady increase (and overuse) of the words "lifestyle" and "documentary" to describe their work, and in taking these two images this morning I saw a fun way that I can differentiate the two.

Both of these images tell the story of my girl(s) at breakfast.
 

I don't believe the first is dishonest, or manipulative, but it strips down the story to JUST my daughter and the fact that even though she's tall enough to reach the sink, she still stands on her tip toes. It doesn't however tell the ENTIRE story.

The second is a more holistic depiction of the scene. No one has been directed for light and the story here conveys more chaos than the first.

This isn't to say that lifestyle images are clean and that documentary style photos are chaotic, or that one is more ideal in general. They are both powerful styles that can yield emotive and compelling results. Lifestyle photography captures a subject naturally in it's environment and documentary photography does the same without doing anything (or doing very little) to sensor the image or story. I use both approaches when shooting for my 365 projects as well as my client work, and the more documentary style photos I shoot, the more effective I have seen my lifestyle images become.

What about you? Are you utilizing these approaches in your work?