A Note of Encouragement for Mothers

Dear Moms,

Many of you may already know this, but I am very very passionate about capturing life. Think for a moment about a treasured photo you have, perhaps of you and your Mom when you were a little girl or you and your Mom at your wedding. When you see that photo what do you feel? The emotion I feel seeing pictures of our Mother with me, with myself and my sisters is overwhelming - to put it lightly. It's a sense of belonging. A feeling of pride and admiration. Of course, a feeling of love.

And even over the last nine years of capturing life for other families sometimes there's a moment when I'm working and I'm absolutely smacked in the face (again) with the weight of it.

Today I was capturing a session. Two beautiful girls (sisters). We captured an array of portraits of the two of them together and individually and at the end I gently nudged the Mom to just take one photo with her daughters.

And then I saw it. That Gobsmacked Moment that still hits me now and again. The daughters visibly and very noticeably relaxed and had a HUGE smile on their face. It was the moment. She was proud to stand with this woman she belonged to, admired, was proud of and Loved. And you know, years down the road, she will look back at that photograph and also feel the overwhelming feeling I first described: Pride, Admiration, Belonging...Love.

I would be remise to write this and not mention all of the many many reasons we as Moms don't want to get in the photograph. We all know them. We wish we were 20 lbs lighter, our hair isn't perfect, I didn't put on makeup, my wrinkles are too numerous..... We know them. I take you back to the photo you have of you and your own mother. Have you EVER looked at that picture and been critical of your own mother? (Her hair looks horrible, she was so heavy, look at all those wrinkles) I know I never ever have.

And so it is with our own daughters (and sons). The photos we GET IN today are not for us (although I'm always grateful to have them, too!). They are for our children. They are keepsakes. They are a breath of fresh air on a hard day when our daughters become Mothers and realize all that we went through with them. They are images of a shared reality of life that we all live through each stage as long as we have it.

Thanks for listening and may you take a moment this month to get in a photograph with your children, for their sakes.

Happy early Mother's Day - You Are Loved.

Love, Melanie