The Mothering Project with Laicee Thill Photography - A Review

I’m here once more to sing my praises to Laicee Thill Photography.

I love her, she is amazing, I trust her endlessly. Her view of us is one of my favorites. I am a unique person with unique flair and I don’t fit most “trendy” photographers style, so finding someone who can not only handle or tolerate us and all of our colorful glory, but finds inspiration in us is a gift, a dream, and I hope and exciting adventure for everyone involved. lol

As a creative adult (and fellow photographer) I find myself nervous to have my photos taken because I too have vision for what the shoot can look like. I’m never nervous with Laicee because her vision is ALWAYS different than mine and it always suits us so well. I have such appreciation for it. I can share my vision all day long but when I am her muse, I want to see her’s. I can think of few more exciting things than to be an artist’s enthusiastic patron, and I am endlessly excited to be one of Laicee’s.

If there is an artist you love, sing their praises and share their work.

Laicee, thank you once again for the reflection. Your photos are the mirror that talk back, the mirror that says affirmations to me without me reciting them first. They help me shift the critical voice in my head into the voice that cheers me on for showing up fully and having a f*&%ing fun time with my kid. You do what you do so well, and I value it greatly.

The Corners of Kaeleigh Joy: Disney Dreaming

I adore the classic Disney films, the movies we all know as well as the silly symphonies and shorts including mickey and his friends. They are my comfort, my inspiration, my childhood, and often my motherhood. I can honestly say I wanted nothing more than to go to Disneyworld when I was young, I even used my own money to buy “The Cheapskates Guide to Disneyworld” when I was 9. I highlighted and underlined the crap out of the contents of that book. My childhood trip never came to fruition but I did make it there for my 24th birthday and what a gift that was. My cousins hosted and guided me through that trip and watched me cry all day long, tears of sweet joy. “I’ve waited my whole life to meet you”, I whispered in Mickey’s ear as we hugged for the first time.

I have been there many times since, and often accompanied by my daughter and other people that I love. Once I spent mother’s day just my baby and me in Magic Kingdom, and it was dreamy.

As an adult I have spent time exploring what about this interest of mine really sparks something in me and what exactly is that spark. Can I identify what the feeling I get is and can I find that same feeling outside of these curated Disney experiences? Nostalgia surely stirs when I turn on the movies and hear the music, but not nostalgia alone. Inspiration glows and grows the more I study and explore why I love these old arts. They are living breathing drawings and how incredible is it that someone (many people) spent hours honing their skill and observing the world and people, all to animate a few lines enough to translate into something so emotional. AND beyond that the background artists, creating masterpiece after masterpiece to contain, guide, and hold these animations. It is all beyond stunning and the amount of work they took to create it is FLABBERGASTING.

I have studied and read as many books as I can as well as listen to all the documentaries of the making of the old classics and about the original animators at the Studio way back in the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. I don’t need to recite the history for you (not in this post at least ;), but I can thank early Disney history for really inspiring me to chase what I want creatively, try harder, and wanting to be apart of something bigger. There were a few years that I really considered going back to art school for animation. I secured funds, went to conferences and spoke to actual Disney animators ( I once had breakfast with the Bancroft brothers, one directed Mulan, one created and animated Mushu, and Kronk, they have done so much more than that too) and ultimately I always came back to the same conclusion, that what I wanted to be apart of doesn’t exist anymore. They aren’t animating by hand any longer and I am not suited to sit at a computer to animate hours and hours and hours a week. I still dream of this, but it will not be my reality.

I started to search for the same “feeling” that Disney gave me and realized that the arts I can and already do give me the same feeling. That the ideas in my head for drawings and paintings and photographs, and sewing projects, and even decorating my house all lead me to the same feeling and that is that I have all the magic I need in my finger tips to create beautiful things. I have every opportunity to collaborate with the anyone, if only I ask. There is, in fact, a great big beautiful tomorrow.

Laicee Thill Photography - A Review

We hadn’t had our family photos taken since Flora Fae was 2 weeks old (3 years ago) and I was getting desperate for a picture that included the three of us together. I found a photographer through the coattails of someone I follow on instagram and the portraits she had taken of another couple in their home looked like it should have been featured in Dwell Magazine. They were crisp and warm and artsy and I loved it. I followed the crumbs to the photographer’s site and their gallery was full of photos that had heART. I started following her and inquired about booking a shoot. It was a very smooth and simple process with lots of room for inspiration and she responded with sweet candor and enthusiasm. We set a date and paid the deposit, joyfully.

We live in an old farmhouse (1800’s old) that needs a lot of love, thankfully we have a lot to give but it has taken us a lot of time to get where we are and we aren’t even close to done. To be honest there are like 2 rooms in the house that are technically complete and the exterior that we started painting 2 years ago remains on the incomplete list. So, as far as rooms to have our picture taken in, that look great, there wasn’t a lot to choose from, but we love our home and it carries us none the less. I cleaned those 2 rooms extensively in preparation for shoot day, and left the remainder of the house very untidy (qeue creative family with a toddler) expecting to not be photographed in the mess. The weeks leading up to this shoot have been difficult for me as well, so though I was excited I was also tired and not feeling my best.

Laicee arrived and we went through what I was thinking for the shots and apologized for the messy house. She asked permission to take photos of us among the mess if she saw something beautiful. I got nervous, but loved the question and agreed. It was an invitation to be vulnerable in our own space and we accepted. Throughout the shoot she did find beauty in our chaos and there is something healing about being seen, excitedly, in your own working space. It was an excellent exercise to let go of any perfectionist qualities that were keeping me from being present to my home and family with all of the love in my heart, as if I was harboring it for a later date when the house deserved it more. The truth is, presently, she has never deserved it more. Maybe this review is also a love letter to my house. I am so grateful to Laicee for seeing us exactly where we are, and artfully reflecting her view back to us. I have more compassionate eyes for my space and this phase of life because of this experience. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

All photos on this post were masterfully done by Laicee Thill Photography.

Please visit her site for more information below.