It was really easy to take photos in New York. For the most part, because New York. But it was also easy because it was all unfamiliar. So many things that I hadn’t seen or had only seen in two dimensions. I spent a good part of time walking really, really slowly and taking a lot of photos. I think I only aggravated somebody walking behind me once or twice. I’m not THAT tourist.

At home with so much familiarity, it’s harder. It’s harder to find that thing that I’ve looked at every day for the last five years and want to take a photo of it. It’s harder to find a way to take a photo that looks at it differently. But the harder is fun too. To be able to find something new among so much familiarity has a joy all of its own.

It’s the same whether I’m using the DSLR or my phone. I have a pretty set routine during the week. I’m at home mostly on the preschool days Monday to Wednesday but will often take the opportunity to duck out to our local shopping centre to get some errands done while I only have one kiddo with me. On Tuesday and Thursday nights I head down the road to the 24 hour gym. On Thursdays I take the girls to swimming and then ballet in the afternoon. On Fridays we sleep in and stay in our PJs until after Piper’s nap and then we head out for afternoon tea at the local shops before heading to gymnastics and home. Friday nights are calorie free and involve #drunktweetfriday. Saturday is my day to get most of my work done, so I’m usually stuck behind a computer for most of the day. And Sunday I split between work, family stuff and getting some cleaning done.

All in all, I don’t often travel very far. The vast majority of my activities occur at home, at the supermarket/gym down the road or the small shopping centre a little bit further down the road.

I relish the chance to take photos when we are outside of that environment and every time I am in a white house I remind myself that the next time we paint a house, it is going to be white, for the photos. It is inspiring in a lot of ways, but it is not that challenging as a picture taker. Because I mostly take photos of the same things – my children, the cat, food, flowers, weeds and the sky – it can be easy for that to become wallpaper at a certain point. So to find that photo where those things step out from the wallpaper and stand out is what it is about for me. I take less photos. But I’m far more attached to the ones I do take.