“Was it an accident, or on purpose?”

“Did you purposely do that?”

Maybe it is being trapped inside from extreme heat or maybe it is the fact I have 4 rowdy kids, but these days, I am asking those questions a lot. A favorite glass is randomly found broken. When spooning sugar into my coffee, I find a lego man in the canister. A certain little boy emerges from his room with a big scratch. A certain little girl’s pull up is found in the toilet.

Most of the time the answer I hope to get is that the action was not intended, it was an accident. It was not on purpose.

Then it makes me think about stuff I do. I think about photography. I would say 90% of the time, my pictures are a result of purpose. I think about the desired end result and adjust my camera accordingly. In the picture, below I knew I wanted her little eye peeking over the table. As a result, I very purposely choose to overexpose the background so her face wouldn’t be so dark. (ISO 160, 1/200, f/2.8)

In this picture, I purposely blurred the container of crayons and kept my little guy sharp. (ISO 400, 1/125, f/2.8)

I purposely choose to turn this black & white…just because I liked it that way. (ISO 400, 1/125, f/2.8)

The cropping is all weird & wrong, but I did it on purpose just to capture a real life normal moment. (ISO 400, 1/125, f/2.8)

It is natural for me to be very purposeful with my camera. I can instantly know if the end result is what I want or not. Instant gratification makes being intentional so much easier.

Sometimes it is easy to get into a routine at home with kids and forget that even the smallest parts of my day should be lived on purpose…not just passed through. It is a lot harder to “see” the end result when all I see is the mess. I don’t do a lot of “HUGE” things each day. I do a lot of cleaning. I do a lot of helping. I do an insane amount of laundry. I do a lot of watercolor painting and paper sword making at the kitchen table. I do a lot of just plain ole’ normal stuff….but I want to do all that plain ole’ normal stuff on purpose – knowing my purpose revolves around 4 (can’t wait to say 5) amazing little people.

I saw this print on Pinterest. It is by Sarah Jane Studios (love her work!). You can download it for free from her blog.

I’ve got a super fun diy tutorial in the works with it….to be shared upon completion (who knows when!)