The concept behind Let the Kids is showcasing great people photography, with a focus on the importance of the people themselves, rather than props.  Our name – Let the Kids Dress Themselves – is derived from that thought process, that we love honest portraits that show real people living real life.

So when we heard about You Are My Wild, a creative collaboration of fourteen parents/photographers/bloggers/fellow humans, we knew we had to share it with you all.

Of course I’ve included a sampling of their images – keep reading to find out more about You are My Wild and the photographers behind it.

1) How was the project born?

Right after the new year, and in sort of a creative lull, a few photographer friends (Meaghan Curry, Kelsey Gerhard, and Becky Zeller) were brainstorming about starting a project to force themselves to put down their phone cameras down and pick up their ‘real’ cameras more regularly again. Inspired both by the simple beauty of Leah Zawadzki‘s prior portrait project and by the fact that their own children are their favorite subjects, the three settled on weekly project to document their little ones over the course of a year. In conceptualizing the project, it was important that all the images be shared together, in one space, rather than on each photographer’s individual site. Apart from having a strong visual impact, this format also makes it easier to appreciate the similarities and the differences between each of the images.

2) Tell us a little about the group’s criteria for image selection.

There is no specific selection criteria and we do not follow weekly themes. Rather, each participant submits one portrait per week. We purposely did not want to limit ourselves to the rules of traditional portraiture and are instead opting to define the term “portrait” loosely in order to capture what we feel represents our family that week. Many of the participants have more than one child, so they also decide whether a particular week’s image will one, some or all of their little ones.

3) Who is the group comprised of?

The project’s 14 participants are: Anje Bridge, Becky Zeller, Brooke Schwab, Dera Frances, Isabel Furie, Jessica Kraus, Kati Dimoff, Kelsey Gerhard, Klodjana Dervishi, Meaghan Curry, Rebecca Conway, Ryan Marshall, Shelby Brakken, and Tara Whitney. Ironically, Instagram is the common thread between us. It is where we found other people documenting their children in really loving, beautiful and respectful ways. We hoped that some of these other IG photographers would be interested in using their higher quality cameras to “see” the same way that we were using our phone cameras – in that more real, and ritualistic way.

4) How do you see the project evolving, or where do you see it headed in the future?

Who knows what the future holds, but so far this project has been an amazing experience. We feel very flattered and humbled by the overwhelming support we have received so far. It has been so interesting and sometimes surprising to see these 14 photos each week and how they work together despite our very different styles. Each Tuesday, our group is excited to see each other’s submissions as they are absolutely a source of inspiration. Perhaps the best part of this project is getting to really know the photographers behind these IG streams we’ve been following and how we see the evolution of these friendships as perhaps the most surprising, yet important and lasting result of this project.

Thank you so much to each of you for letting Let the Kids share a piece of yourselves on our blog!

To see more, please visit You Are My Wild on their BLOG.