At the start of January I began a new year-long photography project: Life In 52. The idea is simple – to take one photo a week for each week of the year. It’s a lifestyle photography project, documenting little snippets of my life that I want to remember.

The project is being hosted by Sarah Cornish from My Four Hens Photography, who I had the privilege of learning from directly on my solo trip to Colorado at the photography retreat she ran last year. When she announced this project I decided to use it to put into practice what I’d learned.

There is a Facebook group dedicated to the project, where participants can post their images each week to share their work, hold themselves accountable and also in the hope of being featured on the blog on the Life In 52 website. Go have a look at it – the collection of submissions (and the stories behind them) are breathtakingly beautiful and inspiring each and every week.

I’ve had two of my images featured so far – one in Week 6 of the project and one in Week 9. I’m so proud that they’ve been chosen. I’m looking forward to putting together my final collection of images at the end of the year – all fifty-two images that will sum up the story of 2018 as it was for us.

Here are my submissions for Weeks Thirteen and Fourteen:

WEEK 13

“I’m learning to say “Yes” more when the girls ask to do something.  I’m trying, anyway.  I got in the habit of saying “No” almost automatically, without even thinking about it and then when they asked me why, I realised I didn’t really have an answer.  When Lola asked me on a random Tuesday after school if she could paint this tiny winged unicorn she’d got in a magazine I opened my mouth and almost said no.  And then I looked into her chocolate eyes gazing up at me hopefully and knew that this was one of those important moments when everything shifts inside and you’re forever changed.  So I said yes, she squealed with delight and we spent a happy half hour getting messy.  I had to document it because although it’s only a miniscule thing to outsiders, for me it represented something monumental.  And I got a little insight into her world when she shared with me that “I like painting Mummy, it really calms me”.  Kids are such wonderful teachers and I am in constant awe of my girls.  Us ‘grown-ups’ have so much to (un)learn.”

WEEK 14

“These two.  They fight like cat and dog but occasionally, very occasionally, I catch them laughing together and my heart explodes with happiness”

You can follow along with all the other submissions from the Life In 52 project on Instagram by following the hashtags #lifein52 and #m4hlifein52. And you can see the featured posts from the group each week on the Life In 52 blog (updated every Monday I believe).