This past May, both my dad and father-in-law came for a visit and stayed with us in our little Boston apartment. My father-in-law flew in from the UK, where my husband is from, and my dad flew in from the good ol' Southern state of Georgia, where I spent my formative years. The Dads were with us at the same time; they get along well and always have a good laugh together. While one dad slept in our music room/spare room, the other was on our living room couch.

I had never photographed my dad before, not really, not properly. I had photographed my father-in-law a few times before. He doesn't mind at all. In fact, he's very comfortable being photographed. But I hadn't yet photographed his chin, which was making its grand appearance for the first time in 40 years after the shedding of his iconic beard! I just had to take advantage of this situation and make some proper portraits.

I wanted to photograph The Dads against a black background, something I'd never done before. But I didn't actually have a proper black background or anything of that nature, and didn't have a lot money to throw into this last minute project. So I made a quick trip to Target and found a cheap set of black bedsheets for $25. I pinned and gaff-taped each sheet, one on top of the other, to a wall in our living room, set up some lights and got to work.

This 'Part One' is my father-in-law. He was wonderfully cooperative. Dead serious at the start, then agreeing to take his teeth out to do some hilarious gurning faces at the end. We both barely held it together long enough for me to capture those images, we were laughing so hard.

The Dads Project, ©2013 Sarahmica Photography

My dad will be next, in 'Part Two'.