A Day in the Life - Child
1/100s (f1.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

A Day in the Life - Parent
1/15s (f2.8 ISO 200) - 50 mm lens

I anticipated struggling most with the light, in keeping with the tradition of my previous assignments! The Parent flat lay was originally produced on a black background, but many of the objects I chose kept capturing a reflection, made worse by the black background. Instead I decided to photograph both sets of objects using a white background for consistency.

I wanted to highlight the contrast between youth and maturity. For the Child photograph, I chose to capture the innocent of children and the joy they experience each day through simple toys and objects. I chose to express this through bright colors and playful objects in a traditional rainbow formation. Some objects, such as the cars, are a bit more technical in terms of design, but the majority of objects chosen are small and simple designs such as square blocks, which continually peek the interest of tiny humans.

In contrast, I wanted the Parent image to encompass stress, the mundane and capture the pressure of the everyday. I used dark objects that represent escapism, those used to reverse the damage of time, or the ordinary items utilized as second nature.

All objects were arranged with a specific purpose. The Child images were spaced closer together, both to offer a tighter gradient, but also to capture the jumble of children and their toys and the chaos the both love and offer. The Parent images were spaces slighter further apart—both because some objects required a bit of white space, but also to capture the perfect alignment and organization adults continually stress over each day.

Technically speaking, the biggest challenge was the composition of each photograph and the objects. In the Parent image, many of the objects are round such as the mascara brush and tequila bottle, so it was a continual challenge to align the objects in a pleasing aesthetic that felt balanced, while ensuring an item did not roll out of place, while using settings that worked for the image, but without capturing too much reflection. To counter this, I frequently rearranged the placement of the phone and glasses in particular as the different arrangement of lighting and diffusers failed to help. So in the end I chose to move the objects instead. In the Child image, the biggest challenge was the composition of the objects in relation to color. I wanted the objects to offer a natural transition, while also taking into consideration of the placement of the toys and where certain objects fit best in terms of space or shape.

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