Perhaps the most elegant display of these photographs exists on Hildebrand’s blog, With Little Sound, in which she challenged herself to take 1,000 pictures in 1,000 days. The photographer realized that her life was being consumed by her role as a mother, and she was not practicing her artistic passion. She devised the blog as a way to have a daily goal, something that would compel her to photograph more often. The results were something Hildebrand did not expect. “It’s unbelievable what I’ve gone through just in 1,000 days,” she says.

Looking back, Hildebrand is amazed by the course of her life and what has derived from it. Even before she had begun the project, she had already contemplated the last 50 pictures of the endeavor, and wondered what it would be like to look back on a huge body of work and feel confident in her life and photography.

The photographer never considered that her life would end up as it has, especially since, her love for the art form as a future career was something that was not planned, even when she had decided to have an experimental eye surgery in high school. At the time, her sentiments and objectives were different. Hildebrand was not searching for a way to improve her photography when she sought out a doctor to treat her limited eyesight; she only wanted to have the capability to drive; a dream that every adolescent works toward.

“I really wanted to drive. I think that every teenager wants that freedom behind the wheel. So, I was just feeling really stifled and dramatic,” she explained.

On her own, not one to give up, Hildebrand found a Columbus-based doctor who was performing experimental eye surgeries. Upon hearing of the aspirations she had and the problems she encountered, he was excited to try his methods on the then 16-year-old girl.

After receiving the treatment, Hildebrand’s eyes quickly adjusted to the world around her, with the exception of her light-sensitivity, which was an “information overload” for her brain and eyes. For the most part, the healing process was so gradual that her brain was able to quickly grasp the changes happening with her eyes.

“Within, maybe a couple of days, I had already adapted to my new sight, it was like nothing had changed,” she says remembering her recovery. But Hildebrand also recalls when she first realized that in fact there was a change — and a big one at that. Before the surgery, she was not able to read the time on the clock in her room; she could only see the light from it. Yet afterward, the numbers on the face of the timepiece became as apparent and clear as the fact that she finally could see objects that were far away, and moreover, ones in the dark.

“I remember the first time I opened my eyes in the dark and I could see. I was lying in my bed, looking at the clock, and I was like, ‘oh, my, gosh, I can see these numbers now!’” she says with evidential joy in her voice.

Her profound interest in photography sparked around the same time. Hildebrand needed to fill a spot in her high school schedule, and chose to take a photography class instead of chemistry. From then on, her art blossomed and continued into college, where she pursued and graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science in photography. Hildebrand even met her husband in a college dark room, and laughed when she said, “We’ve heard every joke possible.”

Aaron Hildebrand is more than a husband to her. They are partners; they critiqued each other’s work in college, raised children together, and now work side by side on a number of projects. The two work perfectly together, according to Hildebrand, who also says that they never experience problems in their career. “It’s like working with your best friend,” Hildebrand illuminates. “We started out as friends…and not just a friendship, but a work relationship. It was really easy to transfer back into that.”

Presently, Hildebrand and her husband collaborate on two blogs: Best Day Ever and Let’s Get Together. Best Day Ever is a mix of their photography of other families, weddings and children, and photographs of their own life. The idea came, again, from Hildebrand’s past and the idea that every day should be welcomed and lived out to its fullest potential. The blog also contains a generous bundle of personal information of which Hildebrand is not ashamed of, consisting of both photography and writing. In fact, she thinks the intimacy allows her clients to feel a connection between photographer and subject that grants more quality photography. “We wanted to photograph whatever anyone would feel their best day is,” she explains.

The two also enjoy working on Let’s Get Together, a vast collaboration between Hildebrand, Aaron, his brother Adam, and his wife Jenn. The collaboration included “Happiest Bride on the Block,” a contest that ended in late March and awarded a couple with a free wedding, and also manifested in bringing a bigger audience to the blog.

But how did the collaboration start? Over a period of time, the four sent each other e-mails back and forth, discussing each other’s work and artistic inspirations. When Adam and Jenn moved back to Cincinatti from California, they decided to stop e-mailing and set out to create a blog together instead. “Most of the dialogue happens face to face, but we still wanted to have a centralized location where we could view everything as a whole,” Hildebrand says.

Between Let’s Get Together and the many other blogs that Hildebrand runs, as well as taking care of her husband and children at home, the photographer is incredibly busy. Therefore, as a means of multitasking, Hildebrand involves her son and daughter in her daily photography. Laughing, Hildebrand confessed that her children don’t particularly like the camera, but this hasn’t stopped her from taking photographs of them. Paradoxically, Hildebrand was hesitant to show her children in her photography in the beginning of her projects, but her confidence and self-awareness has grown since she first started blogging.

“I like showing images of them that aren’t necessarily…pleasing. I just wanted to show my children living a normal life, whatever their life may be,” she says.

Despite the undeniable amusement of Hildebrand, her children don’t have to worry about the daily photographs much longer as the jovial photographer is coming to the end of her personal 1,000 photographs in 1,000 days challenge. But despite the nostalgic end of the approximate three-year venture, Hildebrand looks forward to the end of the blog, so she can take her career in other directions.

“I really love my own artwork and I would want to have opportunities to show my art work,” Hildebrand says. “[But] I just want to be really eclectic in my work and experience all different avenues of photography.”

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