Happy New Year, friends!

We are so excited to kick off Sham of the Perfect 2017!  We have a new website- take some time to poke around, you won’t be disappointed! We have some new awesome features that you will see on our blog in the upcoming weeks. And we have six new fabulous & talented contributors who have joined our group!

This year we, as a collective, we are mixing things up. We want to show you the absolute best of family documentary photography which means you will only see a collective post from us two times a month instead of every week.  Don’t worry though, we will be bringing you awesome content each and every week! This year we will have articles written by each and every one our contributors about topics you care about, such as: documentary photography, family, parenting, and being an artist.  Also, we will be adding a new community post every month.  This year in addition to our Facebook Community Top 5 we will now also have a Top 5 feature pulled from our Instagram account! So make sure you visit and submit your images there (use the hashtag #shamoftheperfect on Instagram and post right on our wall for Facebook).

Now let us introduce you to our 6 new & amazing contributors. Here they are in their own words:

Aniya Emtage Legnaro –

Hi there!
When I first heard of Sham of the Perfect, I sat back in my office chair and smiled. I seriously wanted to point a finger at all of the glorified photographic perfection and say “shame on you for making me feel horrible about my messy life!” I saw images from Sham of the Perfect of the most beautiful imperfection as photographers celebrated their real life that so many of us try to conceal. It was a breath of fresh air. I did a minor yelp when the opportunity came my way to join Sham of the Perfect, and I jumped on it. It is a group of honest, inspirational and extremely talented photographers who I am honored to share this platform with.

My name is Aniya Emtage Legnaro and I’m a wedding and family photographer living on a small rock in the Caribbean sea, called Barbados. I’ve got an amazing hubby, Matteo, two of the coolest kids, Adi and Ella, and we have two furries and 5 turtles. I specialize in documentary photography, and am currently dabbling in street photography. I love nothing more than surfing, traveling and reading.

 

 

Carrie Yuan – 

Greetings! My name is Carrie Yuan, and I am a photographer, mother, wife, and pharmacist making my home in Seattle, Washington. I’m drawn to documenting real life as it happens, when it’s “pretty” but mostly when it’s not. My experience as new mother did not fit the reverie I had conjured in my head during the long years my husband and I struggled with infertility. What began as a means of capturing cute photos of my oldest daughter, photography now is a way for me to honestly depict my experience as a mother. The secret, not-so-sexy parts that I never saw until I became one! The reality that we never wear coordinating outfits, never all have clean faces, we have screaming, crying, lots of laughter, and our fair share of tears (even from the adults), we’re exhausted and most of the time just barely holding on, and that’s the beautiful, honest truth. Being true to myself as an artist has allowed me to attract clients who want the same thing in their own family photographs, and I am so honored when they choose to let me into their real lives.

I fell in love with everything about Sham of the Perfect when it first crossed my radar almost 2 years ago. It’s a project that speaks directly to the kind of photography I aim to create, both for my clients and my own family. Needless to say, I was thrilled when they invited me to become a contributor in 2017. I am so excited to join the wealth of talent here!

 

 

Felicia Chang – 

Sham of the Perfect is a collective that lives and breathes everything that is about living life with honesty and representing the whole spectrum in photo. I cannot be prouder to be part of this amazing group and excited to create some space for this unique movement of documentary photography for families!

First, a little about me. I was born in a rural town in Borneo, Malaysia, went to school for 8 years in Singapore, and moved my life to be with my mom in Canada when I was 14. Give me enough to drink and I can do a mean Singlish accent :). Between then and now, I went through a lot of school, lived half of my 10 years in the arctic working as a diamond and gold geologist, and now I hail from the west coast (best coast) of Vancouver, BC. Here is where I have settled, close to the local mountains with my family (awesome hubs, sassy girls, sweetest schnoodle). My girls are both in full day school this year (allelujah!) so instead of feeling lots of free time, I have loaded it up. In fact, right now, it’s so overloaded that I am trying to practice essentialism. And I might like using parenthesis just a little.

So where does photography fit into all of this? I know I have a creative soul, but somewhere along the way of planning a career that was supposed to be practical and academic, I lost it. When I had my babies, a friend reminded me of picking up the camera and photography brought me back.

The business part of it is a little more of an unintended. I fell into it. People asked and offered to pay, so that’s how it started. Here is the part I never saw coming – that I could do this documentary thing and have it bring the happiness that it does. Don’t get me wrong. Business administration and logistics still suck balls but the shooting, the creating, the stories. It’s my heart. And having my girls watch the slideshows and say to me “mommy, you do good work and we love the stories you tell”, it always reassures me that this is what I am meant to do right now.

 

 

Leslie Kershaw – 

I’m Leslie and I live in Washington DC with my husband Aaron and our three boys Zollie, Kingston and Kit. I work full-time, have a part-time photography business and my husband is a full-time student and stay at home dad. Our boys are 5, 3 and 1. I know it sounds so cliché, but time is flying by so fast, so I try to stay present and live in the moment;  I do this by documenting our everyday. Photographing our everyday life is my happy place. I gain a new perspective by capturing life through my children’s eyes. I see things I wouldn’t normally have noticed. My photography journey is very personal, but is also about telling their story. I’m excited about SoTP b/c I’m a firm believer in finding your tribe and gathering with like-minded people. SotP represents photographers from all over the world who want to break down the barriers surrounding the idea of the perfect family. We all know there is no such thing, but when we go online, it doesn’t feel that way. This project turns the idea of perfection on it’s head by showing the real. It’s refreshing to be able to showcase individuality and witness the unique stories of others.

 

 

Lisa Coker –

I am a documentary family photographer in Sacramento, CA. I capture the joy, purity, and reality of family life. No posing, no directing, no setup. Just life as is. I have an amazing husband of 9 years, and three beautiful, active and sweet little toddlers that are my daily source of stress and inspiration. I’m so excited to be part of this talented group of photographers that also understand the value of capturing real life moments that many take for granted. Together I’m looking forward to pushing my artistry further, growing personally and professionally, as well as making meaningful connections with our group and our Sham of the Perfect audience.

 

 

Meg Pitts –

Hey y’all! I’m Meg, photographer at Meg Pitts Photography.

I’m married to my best buddy in the world,  Joe, and we have two amazingly awesome and equally crazy boys, Liam & Jude.

Way back in high school I picked up my dad’s old film Nikon SLR and learned about my love of photography. Then, when we brought our first little dude home, The Hubs gifted me my first Canon DSLR  (fun fact, we love adoption in our little fam… both our dudes came to us through adoption!)  My love grew and turned into a passion of documenting our family, the good, the bad, and all the beautiful mess of a little group we are. I want to remember the REAL life we lived, not just the picture perfect parts, so that’s my goal each day when I pick up my camera.

Last year I officially started my business and have loved documenting other families too ever since! I love helping people see that their lives, however mundane they think they are, are beautiful because they’re THEIRS and nobody else can say that.

I’m really excited to join Sham of the Perfect this year because I’ve loved following this group for a while and seeing how everyone documents their own worlds. The other photographers seem to share my love of documenting the real, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and all the true beauty of life. I’m also excited to learn more and grow more, as well as meet lots of amazing photographers!

 

 

*****

We are so excited about all the things we have planned for 2017!  Most of all we are excited to have you following along with us! Here’s to a fantastic 2017!