Seeing a personal project turn into a commissioned assignment is any photographer's dream come true. With my ongoing Dad Time series, I really love seeing how parents and their children interact. They have their own language, complex history, and an incredible bond of love that informs their interactions. When shooting, I like to capture both found moments in a documentary style and also directed moments that speak to my view of parenting as a whole. When Fatherly approached me about contributing to their 'Fatherhood In America' series — this time real dads in Seattle and LA — I was pumped. The project was sponsored by Honda, and we were asked to focus on real dads in real life scenarios - no product needed.
Since we had to personally coordinate with the majority of dads, I started where I usually do — social media. We asked dads from previous shoots in California for referrals, as well as friends and acquaintances on Facebook. We also searched hashtags and did general Google searches to locate a diverse group of Dads for this project. The ask was to shoot 16 Dads over three days in two cities. The client wanted a the dads to have a diverse range of jobs, income levels, and ethnicities. With help from Seattle native, Matt Lowe, we were able to line up a total of 18 Dads for the project. We had anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half to photograph dads with their kids and conduct a short interview. And of course we had to account for nap times. Matt also captured video for a short motion piece that accompanied the story. You can see the finished stills piece here and video here. A huge thank you goes out to all the dads we were able to meet and everyone who helped connect us and make this possible. Enjoy!
