Transition is always difficult, but none more so than the transition from summer vacation to the start of school.  Indeed, this autumnal change over was no cakewalk for our family given the exciting summer we experienced.  A brand new baby joined our family!  With the new little dude around Walker and Ella’s end of summer adjustment wasn’t solely an earlier wake up and go to bed time, but more importantly learning to share Mom and Dad’s time with their new little brother. 

Thanks to the lazy summer schedule, Mom and I were able to spend quite a bit of one on one time with each of the older siblings in between diaper changes and colic soothing.  In fact, an entire evening each week was dedicated to pursuing an activity of their choosing.  Walker and I played lots of putt-putt, pitched washers and visited costume stores, while Ella’s sole request was to grab a Churro at Costco and then feed the ducks at the park.

But now that school has begun, our time is tight.  The lazy exploits of summer seem like a distant memory.  The long days at the pool, vacations to interesting places and stay up late movie watching/ice cream parties, have given way to homework, soccer practice and early bedtimes.  Even though we try to take several interesting family outings during the school year, like a quick muddy trip to the Austin City Limits Music fest, most of our time together as a family is spent at practices, carpool and around the dinner table.  My question is, given this frantic pace will we remember any of the details of these hectic, yet precious years?  We won’t if we don’t take pictures.   But are day-to-day activities worthy of capturing in pictures?  You bet they are.

Now I have never been much of a photographer and regrettably let many years of my youth slip by without adequate photographic documentation.  Actually, those 7 years of college are probably best left undocumented by photographic evidence.  Although older, I am still a poor photographer.  In fact if we are counting on capturing quality images, we let my sweet wife man the controls of the equipment.  But thanks to her I take more photos now and not only during vacations and special occasions but also of just hanging out in the front yard or during soccer practice.  Interestingly enough, some of our best pictures come from our most ordinary activities. 

The third project in the SONY DigiDads projects lends itself nicely to snapping photos of our family’s daily life. Sony’s DSLR A-330 is compact and easy to use, with an impressive 10.2 mega pixels.  When you have three children, you already tote a lot of gear.  I’m happy to say that Sony’s A-330 is easy to take along.  I must admit that somewhere along the way I changed the shutter speed, which took me a while to undo.  The automatic flash setting worked well in many light conditions.  In order to get the best images, I needed some more time to tinker with the camera.  That is part of the fun of a new camera: taking it with you and discovering what it can do.  We carried it from Carlsbad Caverns, to the back porch, from soccer practice to the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

I have come to understand that in order to secure a truly beautiful photo of children, a photographer must take many, many pictures.  You’ll see that in my 100 photos; some are winners, some are ordinary at best, and some are just plan bad.  That’s about the quality of my photography, not the quality of the camera.  And yet, I think it captures these sweet, hectic, tender, and crazy days as a working family with three children.  Not every moment is beautiful, and still, these are the days I want to remember.  The camera captures these moments realistically: some are beautiful, and some are imperfect.  So there we have it.  Ordinary family life in 100 photos.  Exquisite, isn’t it?

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDads Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear.   If you want to know more about this project, head on over to my first post (link to post) about it or visit the Sony Electronics Community.