“Growing up in Baltimore, being outdoors meant a trip into the backyard. And while we spent hours there building tree houses and swinging on the tire swing, it wasn’t really Nature. However, the year I turned eleven, and every summer thereafter, RoPa loaded us three kids into an RV and took us camping. We’d spend two weeks in Shenandoah National Park, exploring the Appalachian trail each day until we’d drop, dirtied, exhausted, full of marshmallows, and listen as RoPa’s stories and the sound of the crickets lulled us to sleep in our tent. This is how I first fell in love with the Outdoors.
“And this is one of the things I hope we give you. I hope you both grow to love the feel of the earth beneath your feet, the brisk morning air after a night in your sleeping bag, the smell of the earth after a rain. To become awestruck with the majesty and wonder of it all; to feel a sense of comfort and calm in nature; to feel at home. Above all, I hope you develop a deep love and respect for the natural world and all its living things.”
You can follow along with the rest of the collective here!
Sylvie Grahan is a documentary family photographer located in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Her passion is documenting real life and the little things — because she believes that one day they will be the most important things. She lives with her family in Minneapolis: a husband who becomes twitchy without a daily run, a four year old who prefers to speak at ear-shattering volumes, an 18 month old often chants “I do I do I do,” and a lab mix whose favorite pastime is equally split between cleaning up the floors after dinner and barking at the mailman. Follow her on Instagram @sylviegrahan to see more of her recent work. If you’re looking for a photographer in Minnesota to document your family’s story, please contact her for a session!
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