Documenting a Family Home Before It Changes
“I so regret not having it done for mum’s.”
Some shoots come from a client brief. Others come from something quieter. A feeling. A knowing. The sense that time is moving and nobody is stopping to document it.
This one came from love.
The House That Ron Built
Ron built this house with his own hands, and inside it he and Maureen raised seven children into adults. After that, grandchildren arrived, and then great grandchildren. Every first Sunday of December, the whole family gathered here for Christmas. For decades, that was simply how it was.
Then covid came and the traditions quietly dropped off. Their health began to shift. Even so, life inside that house kept going, just a little slower than before.
Ron and Maureen were fit and sharp, but they were in their nineties. Each day was getting a little trickier to manage.It was clear things were going to change and nothing was going to be the same.
So I picked up my camera and I documented the now.
What Documenting a Family Home Actually Looks Like
Honestly, it is not about being glamorous. No styling, no staging, no carefully arranged props exist in this kind of work.
Rather, you find, Ron, shuffling slowly from room to room, house proud to his core, the man who helped hammer every nail in this place. Next to the phone sits a note reminding them both what to do when scammers call. Across an entire lounge room wall, decades of North Melbourne memorabilia, telling you everything about commitment 😉 It is the charity donation list on the kitchen bench, Salvation Army, Heart Foundation, carefully written and crossed out when paid.
It is the simplicity of a life lived long and well, still visible in every corner if you slow down enough to look.
Beyond the simple details, there were the moments too. Maureen at her cards with her butter menthols. Ron and his wine. The particular quality of afternoon light in a room that has held a lifetime of love, fun and footy.
I wanted to capture all of it.
After the House Was Sold
The house has sold now. Consequently, the possessions have been distributed, to family, to the op shop, to the tip. What was once arranged just so across every surface is now scattered across the world, never to hold the same meaning.
Ron and Maureen are 95yo and living in an aged care facility. The 1980s family portrait of mullets and the matching framed pictures of Jesus and Mary made it to their new home. Grandpa has Jesus in one wing. Grandma has Mary in hers.
Ron still speaks for Maureen and still has a cheeky scotch.
Maureen, though, does not play cards anymore. She just stares…
Life is very different now to what it was inside that house.
What these images mean is that this chapter will never be forgotten. The house Ron built, the Christmases, the cards, the scotch, the note by the phone, all of it is documented and kept. My wife’s family can open these images any time she wants and be back inside those rooms, with those two people, exactly as they were.
This Is For Anyone Who Has a Ron and Maureen
You do not need to be facing a house sale to want this kind of session.
Sometimes the reason to document a family home is simply that the people inside it are getting older. The traditions are shifting. And even if you cannot name it exactly, you can feel that this chapter is drawing towards its end.
That feeling is the reason to book. Not later. Now.
If you have a family home that holds a lifetime inside it, come and talk to me about documenting it before everything changes. I’m based in the Surf Coast but work across Melbourne, Geelong and Victoria and this kind of work is some of the most meaningful I do. Honestly, I LOVE it.
This is real. The raw. Full of love & life.
Your Story sessions available across Melbourne, Geelong and the Surf Coast. Get in touch at ljmphotography.com.au
Want to see more stories – Documenting a Deceased Estate- Preserving the People Who Made It a Home