Stephanie Read is something else altogether. And it's not just because she has created the most beautiful home school sanctuary of love and learning, but because she is so completely unassuming and quietly confident in her role as a mother that it makes me want to a little bit have her adopt me.

And can I tell you about these images for just a minute? Because I'm really happy with how this session turned out. For two reasons.

1. I allowed myself to shoot in ways and places that I normally make a rule never to do or go. Like shooting up against strong backlight or in a dimly-lit basement- pretty basic film photography no-no's. But I decided to take some risks, not knowing how the results would fair. What came of that kind of free, creative play was a set of images that have a certain imperfectness and soul-filled roughness that actually feels quite perfect in the context of family life.

2. Half-way through our session, I handed a disposable flash camera to the older kids and told them they could shoot with it however they wanted. Then they were gone for a good 15 minutes with it. Every disposable camera image in this post (except the two photos of the kids and mom playing on the day bed) was taken by one of the three oldest. I left out the shot of the inside of the garbage can and a few pretty hilarious photos of me shooting (ha) but gosh, I just love knowing that there's a real piece of those darling kids- and their own view of their world- embedded within this little photo story.

Like a bunch of old photos found in a dusty shoebox, the Read family only gets better with age.

(Mamiya 645 ProTL, Nikon F100, Fuji Quick Snap with Fuji 400h and Kodak Tri-x film)