Brooke schultz

every year winter feels so long and so dark and dreary and dreadful i’m sure spring will never come again. and then, the trees grow buds and blossom and i sob into those blossoms sometimes with sadness and sometimes with happiness but either way, spring came and it was felt. now it’s summer though so why we talkin bout spring? here’s the part where I laugh at my own intensity because I want to blow this up into something bigger, which is this: our lives are littered with love all year round…

i like to have inside jokes with myself, like when i am running in the morning and i leap across the crosswalk and dance on the street corners. my neighborhood needs some pizazz, i tell you. and when dreamgirls is blasting in your ears after a ten year hiatus (wutz up rediscovering music i’d totally forgotten i’m in love with) you simply MUST dance. i really wanted to capture that feeling of a mother and child here, that shared knowing, like the whole relationship is an inside joke that…

Brooke Schultz Wild hearted OC, CA family photographer and educator

Brooke Schultz Wild hearted OC, CA family photographer and educator

their little faces looking to me constantly gives me seeds of wondering: maybe we really can affect the massive change our world needs, assuage the heartbreak just a little, create something amazing in the form of human hearts. those little pure eyes–i know it’s the most important work to get it right and keep those eyes sparkling, help those eyes see everything through smile crinkles and tears equally. so much responsibility, and yet they have everything they need already. so much weight on…

This project grew in my belly while listening to a talk on creativity and the need to go after your own personal projects no matter what else you’ve got rollin. It was an experiment and a disaster by some standards–the one black and white roll had ONE image that turned out. but it’s probably my favorite image i’ve ever made. there’s something about answering that call to create, when the creating is for no one but you, that paves the way for you to make the biggest, best, boldest most…

Brooke Schultz Wild hearted OC, CA family photographer and educator

you know how i’m always talking about the same things? the heartbreak and joy of family, the duality of life–how we can’t sign up for heaps of happiness without also knowing intense pain? so, i’m not sick of talking about those even a little. but maybe you’re a tiny sick of hearing about them so i will say just one slice and move on. our family loving is so hard won. every minute we spin a web of what we ultimately create and all of this–these photos, the work i do–is simply my own attempt…

What to wear for family photos at home guide by Brooke Schultz, OC, CA film family photographer and educator