In this week’s #TuesdayTop10, we remember and celebrate the 10 photojournalists who won Work+Family Excellence Awards last year
This project depicts my father at his place of work and shows the connection that he maintains with the rest of the family through phone and also through the photos and paintings of family members that line the walls of the office. Each of the photos depicting my father with pictures in the background include members of the family. The one of him at the window shows me and my brother, the one of him at his desk shows my mother in the background, and the one of him on the couch shows an older relative in the painting. I feel the strongest of these pictures is the one of him on the couch with the chairs in the foreground. This one has the strongest composition and makes the best use of the space in his office to create a compelling image, it also features the painting of the woman who is a family member hanging right above his head. Photo by Jordan Langmore. Selected for Work+Family archive.
As the 2017-2018 photojournalism class starts its work on the Work+Family Project, we take a look back at last year’s award-winning work by the 2016-2017 photojournalism classes. On this Tuesday of Spring Break, we devote our #TuesdayTop10 to celebrating the 10 Excellence Award winners from last year and the 25 student photographers (plus Mr. Winter) whose images were included in the Work+Family archives where they will be considered for Work+Family publications, exhibits and promotional materials.
Molly Bankenship’s image was the most decorated of last year’s collection. It was chosen to be included in the national travelling exhibit that debuted at Framingham State University in Massachusetts last December.
“This project made me realize that in life, and especially in my house personally, work and family will inevitably collide with one another,” Blankenship said. “Each family has to learn to adjust and live with it, to let both work and family shine through individually.”
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This project made me realize that in life, and especially in my house personally, work and family will inevitably collide with one another. Each family has to learn to adjust and live with it, to let both work and family shine through individually.
— Molly Blankenship
Professional photojournalist Catalin Abagiu gave a positive evaluation of the class’s work.
“I met some promising photographers in Mr. Winter’s classes,” Abagiu said. “I am really glad that so many of them are being recognized by Work+Family.”
This year’s classes will have to bring their A game to match last year’s results. In February, they met with their professional photographer/mentor Brandon Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux introduced the project and shared his own experience and images covering immigration in Texas and the culture of the Mississippi Delta.
“Photography for me is all about building relationships,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s also a vehicle for exploring the world around you, places you wouldn’t otherwise experience.”
Photoj students will be submitting their first images for the Work + Family project the week they return from spring break.
Molly Blankenship
In all of my photos I decided to mainly focus on my mom. In our house work and family tend to collide a lot with one another. My mom has to leave work early in order to pick up my little sister from school each day, and then once they get back home, she pulls out her computer and starts working again until it’s time for her to make dinner. My mom also wakes up every morning at 6:00 a.m. to make my two sisters and I’s lunch, and to get ready for work, and then take my littlest sister home. I decided to shoot my photos all in my house, and each of them shows some aspect of both work and family, by either showing my mom in her work clothes prepping lunches, or showing my sister playing her video games before school at my dad’s busy desk with all of his textbooks, from teaching. This project made me realize that in life, and especially in my house personally, work and family will inevitably collide with one another. But each family has to learn to adjust and live with it, to let both work and family shine through individually. Photo by Molly Blankenship. Award of Excellence winner. Selected for inclusion on national Work+Family travelling exhibit.
Keandrea Cobb
I took these pictures with a mind set, to show my personal experience of how to connect work in family in my life. I took pictures that represents an everyday thing that happens to me between work and family. There are about three photos of my brother alone. When I interpret work and family through him I think about his future life and inspiration and dreams through all three photos. The one when he looks out through the neighborhood is like him looking out for what is to become of him in life. Photo by Keandrea Cobb. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
William Glass
Photo by William Glass. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Amurri Davis
Photo by Amurri Davis. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Diego Gutierrez
My uncle is a freelance guitar builder and so he gets to make his own hours and is less strict in terms of work schedule, unlike my parents. My mom is a teacher at Akins and my dad is one of the bosses for MLK investments. My mom has to get up super early to get my little brothers to school and to get all the way down when south to Akins, and my dad hardly ever comes home before 9:00 and even he’s off, he’s still on call. Anyway, my parents are very serious when it comes to time management, and it starts to become very tiring, complete family time for us is rare as either one of my parents always seems to have some work thing. My uncle on the other hand is much more laid back as he doesn’t have a clock he has to punch every day, and he doesn’t have a clock in his workshop. Guitars are his passion, and making them are his job but his workshop doesn’t feel like my mom’s classroom, or my dad’s office, it feels like home, it feels like family. So that’s where I go to write and my little brother goes to sketch, I can’t do it at home because my parents are constantly hounding me about homework, and I can’t do it at school because there’s too many distractions. So whenever my uncle is going to be in the workshop for a while on a new project, Christian (my brother) and I tag along. Some days we can spend anywhere from 6-9 hours in there, my uncle sanding or cutting or welding away, my brother drawing up measurements and sketching floor plans for skyscrapers he one day dreams of building, and me just jotting down lyrics, stories, character descriptions, scenes, poems and rants. I go there because there’s never the sense of urgency that I feel at home, there’s a grace and peace to that place that isn’t anywhere else, it’s the one place that neither work or family is too overbearing, there they work in tandem, a perfect fusion of the two, it’s a place I can be with family and work efficiently, that’s why I chose to photograph his workshop for this collection. Photo by Diego Guiterrez. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Gregory James
My mother is a Pediatric Surgeon at Dell Children’s Hospital here in Austin. The following photos are snapshots of everyday things she does in her job. Occasionally during a special work period called Call, where my mom, Dr. Garcia, will spend up to 48 hours at the hospital, she can find some time to get some shuteye. She can watch TV, sleep, shower, and exercise in the call room. ”The call room is super helpful to refocus my energy when I am on call. I can relax and watch Ellen, or take a power nap on the bed or sofa.” Photo by Gregory James. Excellence Award winner.
Jordan Langmore
This project depicts my father at his place of work and shows the connection that he maintains with the rest of the family through phone and also through the photos and paintings of family members that line the walls of the office. Each of the photos depicting my father with pictures in the background include members of the family. In this image, he is at his desk. Behind the desk is a picture of my mother. Photo by Jordan Langmore. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Mira MacLaurin
My photos feature my mom, a busy mother of three and often on call full time nurse practitioner, and her youngest child, Iver, a 16 month old. He's a relatively easy baby but he still follows my mom anywhere like any baby would. One of his favorite times are baths. They are also probably a favorite time of my mother's because it is one of the few moments when he is distracted by something other than her and she's able to have time to do things like check her email. After baths, Iver loves to play peekaboo with himself in the mirror and will often make my mom linger there for five minutes, holding him before the mirror as he pulls the hood of his towel in front of his eyes, squealing and giggling. Photo by Mira MacLaurin. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Zach Napier
WORK COMPUTER: This photo is of my mother’s work computer desktop. As you can see, the desktop photo is a picture of me, my mother and our dog. This photo combines work and family because every time my mother uses that computer for work, she sees us together. It makes her very happy she says that photo she says. Photo by Zach Napier. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Mia Orrick
The kitchen is where most of our routines happen. My mothers’ greet each other there every day after my mother (in the suit) comes home from work. This thing that I take for granted is something I now appreciate as it showcases the amount of love we harbor in our family. This photograph depicts my mother, Diana Escamilla-Nichols, who is a lawyer, coming home to greet my mother, Evelyn Escamilla-Nichols, in the kitchen. Evelyn is a graphic designer who is self-employed and works from home; she is also the head of the house. The kitchen is where most of our routines happen. My family is loving; we’re connected and very social with each other. This daily interaction, something that I take for granted, is something I now appreciate as it showcases the amount of love we harbor in our family. Photo by Mia Orrick. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Tessy Akinsanya
From fixing employees schedules and taking calls from “sick” employees to cleaning the house all in succession as if it’s a schedule. Usually in response to sick calls and filling in those places my dad goes in to take their place after coming home earlier in the day from work. As I get older I understand the difficulty of being a parent. From my point of view parenting looked easy because it was made looking easy, even looking in my father's circumstance of being a single parent. Often balancing work and family is a difficult struggle for everyone but doing it for 12 years by himself of my 15 years of life truly deserves recognition. Photo by Tessy Akinsanya. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Mustafa Al Azzawi
Photo by Mustafa Al Azzawi. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Miriam Ballard
My family’s work situation is pretty unique. My parents run a bed and breakfast called The Fairview. Since I live at the bed and breakfast, sometimes it gets hard to distinguish the differences between work and family life. In this picture, I see it as a representation of where my work and family life intercept. My mom had just made cookies to put out for guests staying at the bed and breakfast, which represents work, and our family dog represents the family aspect of the picture. Photo by Miriam Ballard. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Miriam Ballard
My family’s work situation is pretty unique. My parents run a bed and breakfast called The Fairview. Since I live at the bed and breakfast, sometimes it gets hard to distinguish the differences between work and family life. Photo by Miriam Ballard. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Isabella Bass
Photo by Isabella Bass. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Molly Blankenship
I decided to shoot my photos all in my house, and each of them shows some aspect of both work and family, by either showing my mom in her work clothes prepping lunches, or showing my sister playing her video games before school at my dad’s busy desk with all of his textbooks, from teaching. This project made me realize that in life, and especially in my house personally, work and family will inevitably collide with one another. But each family has to learn to adjust and live with it, to let both work and family shine through individually. Photo by Molly Blankenship. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Anthony Bourda
In the pictures I took for the Work+Family project, I chose to take pictures in the morning and evening (before and after work). I took these images like so because I wanted to capture different aspects of our everyday lives. More importantly, these are the times I get to see my family the most on weekdays. Our lives are less rushed on the weekends since we all have days off, so it was challenging to schedule myself taking the photos. I often had to wake up early to take them as well. Because of this, my photos aren’t exactly great, as I was still lethargic at the time. Photo by Anthony Bourda. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Tyler Broz
This photo shows my mom standing with my brother to make sure he doesn't fall. I chose this photo because it reflects what I do daily, with my parents being separated and one remarried and back in school, it's difficult to maintain a stable lifestyle, and keep everything running sometimes. Photo by Tyler Broz. Selected for Work+Family archive. Editor's note: We really like the parallel image between the image of Simba and Mufasa on the screen and the image of mother and son in the foreground. Very cool.
Keandrea Cobb
I took these pictures with a mind set, to show my personally experience of how to connect work in family in my life. I took pictures that represents an everyday thing that happens to me between work and family. In this picture, I am in the back seat taking photos between the two people in the front seat. One of them is a picture of my aunt and my little cousin after they had pick me and my brother up from school. It interprets work and family to me because it shows my life through a looking glass as I sit and wait to get pick up to go to work/school and getting off of work/school. I am entering the lanes through my life. Photo by Keandrea Cobb. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Amurri Davis
Mommy-Daughter Time: Just another day in the life of my living room. My sister is watching Peppa Pig while my mom edits photos from a wedding she shot. In the upper right corner there are five photos that have every family member that live in our house. The parents are on top and the children are on the bottom, and following each row from right to left they show the oldest to youngest of the family. The cabinet next to the photos contains children’s art, music, and memories. I chose to do this photo the way I did because I wanted to show a somewhat similar view of what my mom sees when she works at home in the living room. Photo by Amurri Davis. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Amurri Davis
Mommy-Daughter Time: Just another day in the life of my living room. My sister is watching Peppa Pig while my mom edits photos from a wedding she shot. Photo by Amurri Davis. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Diego Gutierrez
My uncle is a freelance guitar builder and so he gets to make his own hours and is less strict in terms of work schedule, unlike my parents. My mom is a teacher at Akins and my dad is one of the bosses for MLK investments. My mom has to get up super early to get my little brothers to school and to get all the way down when south to Akins, and my dad hardly ever comes home before 9:00 and even he’s off, he’s still on call. Anyway, my parents are very serious when it comes to time management, and it starts to become very tiring, complete family time for us is rare as either one of my parents always seems to have some work thing. My uncle on the other hand is much more laid back as he doesn’t have a clock he has to punch every day, and he doesn’t have a clock in his workshop. Guitars are his passion, and making them are his job but his workshop doesn’t feel like my mom’s classroom, or my dad’s office, it feels like home, it feels like family. So that’s where I go to write and my little brother goes to sketch, I can’t do it at home because my parents are constantly hounding me about homework, and I can’t do it at school because there’s too many distractions. So whenever my uncle is going to be in the workshop for a while on a new project, Christian (my brother) and I tag along. Some days we can spend anywhere from 6-9 hours in there, my uncle sanding or cutting or welding away, my brother drawing up measurements and sketching floor plans for skyscrapers he one day dreams of building, and me just jotting down lyrics, stories, character descriptions, scenes, poems and rants. I go there because there’s never the sense of urgency that I feel at home, there’s a grace and peace to that place that isn’t anywhere else, it’s the one place that neither work or family is too overbearing, there they work in tandem, a perfect fusion of the two, it’s a place I can be with family and work efficiently, that’s why I chose to photograph his workshop for this collection. Photo by Diego Guiterrez. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Diego Gutierrez
My uncle is a freelance guitar builder and so he gets to make his own hours and is less strict in terms of work schedule, unlike my parents. My mom is a teacher at Akins and my dad is one of the bosses for MLK investments. My mom has to get up super early to get my little brothers to school and to get all the way down when south to Akins, and my dad hardly ever comes home before 9:00 and even he’s off, he’s still on call. Anyway, my parents are very serious when it comes to time management, and it starts to become very tiring, complete family time for us is rare as either one of my parents always seems to have some work thing. My uncle on the other hand is much more laid back as he doesn’t have a clock he has to punch every day, and he doesn’t have a clock in his workshop. Guitars are his passion, and making them are his job but his workshop doesn’t feel like my mom’s classroom, or my dad’s office, it feels like home, it feels like family. So that’s where I go to write and my little brother goes to sketch, I can’t do it at home because my parents are constantly hounding me about homework, and I can’t do it at school because there’s too many distractions. So whenever my uncle is going to be in the workshop for a while on a new project, Christian (my brother) and I tag along. Some days we can spend anywhere from 6-9 hours in there, my uncle sanding or cutting or welding away, my brother drawing up measurements and sketching floor plans for skyscrapers he one day dreams of building, and me just jotting down lyrics, stories, character descriptions, scenes, poems and rants. I go there because there’s never the sense of urgency that I feel at home, there’s a grace and peace to that place that isn’t anywhere else, it’s the one place that neither work or family is too overbearing, there they work in tandem, a perfect fusion of the two, it’s a place I can be with family and work efficiently, that’s why I chose to photograph his workshop for this collection. Photo by Diego Guiterrez. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Diego Gutierrez
My uncle is a freelance guitar builder and so he gets to make his own hours and is less strict in terms of work schedule, unlike my parents. My mom is a teacher at Akins and my dad is one of the bosses for MLK investments. My mom has to get up super early to get my little brothers to school and to get all the way down when south to Akins, and my dad hardly ever comes home before 9:00 and even he’s off, he’s still on call. Anyway, my parents are very serious when it comes to time management, and it starts to become very tiring, complete family time for us is rare as either one of my parents always seems to have some work thing. My uncle on the other hand is much more laid back as he doesn’t have a clock he has to punch every day, and he doesn’t have a clock in his workshop. Guitars are his passion, and making them are his job but his workshop doesn’t feel like my mom’s classroom, or my dad’s office, it feels like home, it feels like family. So that’s where I go to write and my little brother goes to sketch, I can’t do it at home because my parents are constantly hounding me about homework, and I can’t do it at school because there’s too many distractions. So whenever my uncle is going to be in the workshop for a while on a new project, Christian (my brother) and I tag along. Some days we can spend anywhere from 6-9 hours in there, my uncle sanding or cutting or welding away, my brother drawing up measurements and sketching floor plans for skyscrapers he one day dreams of building, and me just jotting down lyrics, stories, character descriptions, scenes, poems and rants. I go there because there’s never the sense of urgency that I feel at home, there’s a grace and peace to that place that isn’t anywhere else, it’s the one place that neither work or family is too overbearing, there they work in tandem, a perfect fusion of the two, it’s a place I can be with family and work efficiently, that’s why I chose to photograph his workshop for this collection. Photo by Diego Guiterrez. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Diego Gutierrez
My uncle is a freelance guitar builder and so he gets to make his own hours and is less strict in terms of work schedule, unlike my parents. My mom is a teacher at Akins and my dad is one of the bosses for MLK investments. My mom has to get up super early to get my little brothers to school and to get all the way down when south to Akins, and my dad hardly ever comes home before 9:00 and even he’s off, he’s still on call. Anyway, my parents are very serious when it comes to time management, and it starts to become very tiring, complete family time for us is rare as either one of my parents always seems to have some work thing. My uncle on the other hand is much more laid back as he doesn’t have a clock he has to punch every day, and he doesn’t have a clock in his workshop. Guitars are his passion, and making them are his job but his workshop doesn’t feel like my mom’s classroom, or my dad’s office, it feels like home, it feels like family. So that’s where I go to write and my little brother goes to sketch, I can’t do it at home because my parents are constantly hounding me about homework, and I can’t do it at school because there’s too many distractions. So whenever my uncle is going to be in the workshop for a while on a new project, Christian (my brother) and I tag along. Some days we can spend anywhere from 6-9 hours in there, my uncle sanding or cutting or welding away, my brother drawing up measurements and sketching floor plans for skyscrapers he one day dreams of building, and me just jotting down lyrics, stories, character descriptions, scenes, poems and rants. I go there because there’s never the sense of urgency that I feel at home, there’s a grace and peace to that place that isn’t anywhere else, it’s the one place that neither work or family is too overbearing, there they work in tandem, a perfect fusion of the two, it’s a place I can be with family and work efficiently, that’s why I chose to photograph his workshop for this collection. Photo by Diego Guiterrez. Work+Family Excellence Award winner.
Ella Irwin
This is a picture of part of my mom’s desk. I bought my mom the Yay! Mom! magnet on a band field trip. The calendar on the side includes our family schedule as well as important dates in her work life. My grandpa had gotten her the black and white picture as a birthday card. The wednesday bus sticker is used as a reminder to pick up my sister from the city bus. My mom uses her desk as a way to keep her spirits up at work and remind her of our family. Photo by Ella Irwin. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Ella Irwin
My mom is a librarian at BrykerWoods Elementary school. Four years ago, she went back to school to get her librarian certificate after twenty-five years of being a fifth grade teacher. My sister and I both attend BrykerWoods and got to go to school with her. When the two of us left for middle school, my mom missed us greatly. It had been eight years either my sister or I had not been at school with her. To remind my mom of us she displays pictures of our family in her office. This picture is taken from the couch in her office of my mom’s desktop screensaver. Photo by Ella Irwin. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Gregory James
My mother, Dr. Garcia, is a pediatric surgeon at Dell Children’s Hospital here in Austin. The following photos are snapshots of everyday things she does in her job. In this photo, she is with the nurse practitioner, or NP, the head nurse in an operating room. They are not quite doctors, but they are not regular nurses either. Dr. Garcia requires NP’s to make sure all the nurses get her what she needs to perform a emergency surgery or a regular surgery. Photo by Gregory James. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Kien Johnson-Dye
The purpose of the pictures I took were to portray a reality that I live in. Work and family are heavily intertwined and will continue to be in the foreseeable future. My best picture is one of my parents working on their taxes, and while they worked, my interested cat approached them. My mom, wanting a break from the exhausting work, picked up my cat. My parents shared a smile even though there was still much to do, tax-wise. This is just one of many examples how the life of my family is predominantly centered around work. Overall, this project made me re-examine my life and how work and family intersect, and how large that intersection is. Photo by Kien Johnson-Dye. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Kien Johnson-Dye
The purpose of the pictures I took were to portray a reality that I live in. Work and family are heavily intertwined and will continue to be in the foreseeable future. This project made me re-examine my life and how work and family intersect, and how large that intersection is. Photo by Kien Johnson-Dye. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Alex Lynch
Photo by Alex Lynch.
Alex Lynch
Photo by Alex Lynch. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Alex Lynch
Photo by Alex Lynch. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Mira MacLaurin
My photos feature my mom, a busy mother of three and often on call full time nurse practitioner, and her youngest child, Iver, a 16 month old. He's a relatively easy baby, but he still follows my mom anywhere like any baby would. My mom normally ends her night on her laptop finishing, closing, and submitting charts from her patients of that day, as the never-sleeping toddler Iver claws at her legs for attention. Photo by Mira MacLaurin. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Mira MacLaurin
My photos feature my mom, a busy mother of three and often on call full time nurse practitioner, and her youngest child, Iver, a 16 month old. He's a relatively easy baby, but he still follows my mom anywhere like any baby would. My mom normally ends her night on her laptop finishing, closing, and submitting charts from her patients of that day, as the never-sleeping toddler Iver claws at her legs for attention. Photo by Mira MacLaurin. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Zach Napier
AFTER WORK BASKETBALL: My father and my brother partake in some basketball after work. Basketball is a very big sport in my family, almost everyone has played or currently plays. This photo combines work and family because my dad is with my brother playing basketball while my dad still is in work clothes. Photo by Zach Napier. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Mia Orrick
My family is loving, we’re connected and very social with each other. This photograph depicts my mother, Diana, who is a lawyer, coming home to greet my mother Evelyn in the kitchen. Evelyn is a graphic designer who is self-employed and works from home, she is also the head of the house. My mothers greet each other in a similar way each day, and although it is very routine, I appreciate it because it shows the love that our family harbors. Photo by Mia Orrick. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Diana Rangel
Photo by Diana Rangel. Selected for Work+Family work archive.
Max Rhodes
Photo by Max Rhodes. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Ramona Sever
Photo by Ramona Sever. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Maddy Stine
The Work and Family project that we have been working on for about six weeks has taught me a lot. It was an eye opener and it made me realize that work and family are hard to balance in our lives. My father is a computer salesman and is always traveling in and out of town. He also works late on week nights so we usually only get to hang out with him around dinner time. My step-mom comes home from work and immediately starts working around the house like cooking dinner and cleaning. My sister and I come straight home from school to do homework at the dinner table. Photo by Maddy Stine. Selected for Work+Family photo archive.
Emi Takahashi
In this photo, its my dads birthday and Im taking pictures of them for photos of them for fun just because. My brother is posing with my dad but in the background, blurred out, is my stepmom on her phone checking her email for work related things. This is work+ family because while we are celebrating my dad getting a year older, my stepmom has to step aside and take care of work stuff. In conclusion, you cannot avoid work because its everywhere you go. I like the yellowish whitish colors in this photo but its not super strong. Photo by Emi Takahashi. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Emi Takahashi
These are my two youngest siblings, Ondine and Rafael. Ondine is 2 and Rafael is 5 months. They are laying down on the couch, and Ondine loves her little brother very much. I took this photo because while taking this for a schoolwork assignment, I also enjoyed getting to spend time with my little siblings which I rarely get to do on weekdays because I am usually in my room doing homework. I love them so much and they make me laugh. I like the colors of this picture and I think its a decent picture for Work+Family. Photo by Emi Takahashi. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Emi Takahashi
I like this photo the best out of all the photographs I took. This is my mom working at home after her actual work time is over. She has a lot on her plate so she has to take a little bit of family time away to get her work done. She is multitasking by doing her work but also keeping an eye on her 5-month-old child. He is just relaxing on my younger sisters old play mat. This displays work+family perfectly because you can tell exactly whats happening. I don’t like the lighting too much, but I really like the backstory and it's a strong photo to me. Photo by Emi Takahashi. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Kay Villareal
In this picture you can see a notebook with written things on the page along with a charger outlet and glasses laying on top of it. On the notebook, it has written a list of groceries to get in Spanish. My parents also write what they need from the store because they’re always forgetting since they have a lot on their minds. The red glasses are for my dad to see, but he usually wears them to write/read things or for cooking. He works at a restaurant, and he's the chef, so he's in charge of all the food that needs to be made. The notebooks is laying on his nightstand next to his bed, because that’s the only time where my dad has free time. He goes to work at 2 and doesn’t come back till 11:30 at night, so he doesn’t have a lot of time to think about the groceries he needs for his family. Photo by Kay Villareal. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Dave Winter
I always like to always like to do assignments with my students when I can, especially the photo assignments, and this project was irresistible because as a public school teacher with a family of my own, I face the struggle between work and family every day. Since my family moved to Austin, my wife and I both have taken labor-intensive jobs that have made balancing our work and family commitments difficult. For more than 10 years, one of us worked part-time or not at all, and it’s been hard to balance work and family in the aftermath of becoming a family with two parents working full-time. We both bring work home, and there are moments like the one in this photo, where everyone is literally left to their own (electronic) devices. This particular image has even more significance to me because we are not at home in Austin; we are at my sister’s condo in Nashville. It is spring break for the kids and me, and we are travelling to our annual family reunion that coincides with the opening weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament. Many of my cousins, my mom’s one surviving sister (of 10 siblings), my siblings and my nieces and nephew and I all gather to watch basketball, play cards, eat each other’s cooking and enjoy family time. But before we can get to the reunion, which was in Knoxville, we stopped in Nashville with our sister. We enjoyed a nice dinner and saw the new house my parents have bought so they could move to Nashville to be nearer to my sister. But the next morning, we all had to pause family time for work. My sister went into her office to deal with a very challenging matter, and my wife dove into to all of the projects she left in Austin in order to join us for the reunion. I guess technically I was working too since I was doing this assignment. Photo by Dave Winter. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Jordan Langmore
This project depicts my father at his place of work and shows the connection that he maintains with the rest of the family through phone and also through the photos and paintings of family members that line the walls of the office. Each of the photos depicting my father with pictures in the background include members of the family. In this image, he is seated at the couch below a painting of an older relative, a family member hanging literally right above his head. Photo by Jordan Langmore. Selected for Work+Family archive.
Jordan Langmore
This project depicts my father at his place of work and shows the connection that he maintains with the rest of the family through phone and also through the photos and paintings of family members that line the walls of the office. Each of the photos depicting my father with pictures in the background include members of the family. The one of him at the window shows me and my brother, the one of him at his desk shows my mother in the background, and the one of him on the couch shows an older relative in the painting. I feel the strongest of these pictures is the one of him on the couch with the chairs in the foreground. This one has the strongest composition and makes the best use of the space in his office to create a compelling image, it also features the painting of the woman who is a family member hanging right above his head. Photo by Jordan Langmore. Selected for Work+Family archive.