Click Here:  A TRIBUTE TO SOME OF MY FAVORITE MOTHERS

When I first started working on this project, it was so much fun to go through the images on my computer.  As I finished gathering the images, I thought it would be nice to add a few of me with my children.  After hours of searching, I found one photograph.  One.  I was devastated.  Capturing memories is something I love to do, and not to mention, it’s my job.  I was jealous of my clients.  Isn’t it my responsibility as my children’s mother to capture their lives?  I am a big part of that, and I failed.

Why was I not in any of the photographs?  Because it’s just easier for me to pick up the camera and be behind the lens, than to hand it off to someone else.  Because I want to loose weight, because I don’t like my hair, or my clothes, a million different reasons.  But you know what?  My children don’t care about those things.  When they see a picture of me, all they see is their mom.  They don’t think, wow, my mom needs to loose some weight.  I wanted photographs of us together.  What if something happened to me?  I was devastated by the thought they would have nothing tangible to hold on to that shows how much I love them. 

So while this project started out being a tribute to all the mother’s I have photographed, it ended up being so much more.  It helped me get on the other side of the lens, not for myself, but for my children.  And isn’t that what moms do?  We give of ourselves and make sacrifices we never imaged for our babies.

So while some of my client moms have managed to escape the camera during our sessions (I didn’t realize how many of you have eluded me until I went through them), I hope that in the future you will get in a few.  Or just pass your camera off to someone else, play with your kids, hang out on the couch in your sweats, read a book.  You don’t have to frame them, and nope, you don’t even have to like the way that you look, but I can tell you that I’m so glad that I got in the picture.

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I hope you enjoy the slideshow….thank you for inspiring me to take photographs with my children.  And most of all, thank you for welcoming me into your homes to capture your family, it’s such an honor.

What would a mother’s day post be without MY MOM?!?!  My mom is my best friend, we talk on the phone several times a day, she lives 2 blocks from us.  She has taught me more about the kind of person I want to be than anyone else.  She’s the strongest person I know and the best mother I could imagine.  She’s been there for me, with a smile, encouraging me, no matter what.  She’s incredibly creative and thoughtful, and taught me how to be those things too, and I am so thankful for that.  She sacrificed so much for my brother and I growing up.  She was a single mom and had to give of herself constantly.  Being a single mom myself for awhile, I know now just what it is and what it takes.  It is not easy.  Thank you Mom.

She’s also a lot of fun……she’s an awesome Gee Gee to my children.  She looooooves being a grandma.  She’s means fun, the kids get excited just talking about her.  She’s the keeper of snacks, loves to go on long walks around the block, and fun excursions with the kids on date night every week.  She even "watches" Ty’s favorite tv show with him on Thursdays via walkie talkie.  She’s fun, she loves us all, and makes time for us, even though her days are filled with other things. 

My beautiful mother….I love you Mom.

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I am off to enjoy the weekend with my family, I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day!!!