This was my first time shooting a Mother & Daughter session, and I was so moved by it that I hope to incorporate many more into my business. I am not yet a mom, but as family photographer, and a daughter myself, and I’m starting to realize how fleeting being a mother must feel. A few years back, my mom told me a story that will stick with me for a long time.
When I graduated college, I moved back to Texas and lived at home for a few months before making the decision to move to Seattle. My parents were really supportive of my decision, but they couldn’t hide the bittersweetness of the transition. After dropping me off at the airport for my one-way-flight to Washington, my mom came home to have a glass of wine on the front porch. Like many moms, she was struggling at the thought of one of her children moving across the country, and the idea that we probably we would never live together again. A few minutes in, another neighbor came over to sit down with her, also seeming a bit distraught. “How are you?” my mom asked. The neighbor teared up a bit, saying she had just dropped her daughter off at her first day Kindergarten. She couldn’t believe how quickly time was passing, and that she’d no longer have her daughter with her during the day. My mom chucked a bit and poured her a glass of wine. They sat in silence for a bit, both respecting the space the other was in. How similar yet different these two spaces were.
I was so touched by this story. It reminds me that change is inevitable, and that we are all going through it in our own way. Photography has the power to freeze this change— these fleeting moments. I love that about my job.
