It’s a vulnerable thing, you know, to be in front of the camera. To be confident in yourself and not care that you still haven’t lost the rest of the baby weight, you still aren’t comfortable in your own skin, the baby was up last night and you got 4 hours of sleep, the dog puked just as you were leaving and you had to stop and clean it and the baby drooled on your shirt and now you have to change and he cried the whole way to the session because he wouldn’t nap and you got lost because you forgot the directions and now your late and forgot Maria’s number to tell her and your husband is even more annoyed because he’s missing the game and you pull up and you really just want to turn around and leave. Sums it up right? I know, because every year I make my family go through the same thing not just because I too want pictures of my family but a reminder to myself of what my clients go through to get to the session.
As a woman and mother its even harder, I’m definitely not comfortable in my body and the last thing I want is to be in a picture, but at the same time, my baby is getting so big and I’m so DESPERATE to capture her now. Sure, being a mother, at least for me, 60%, hmmm… maybe 70% of the time is not very rewarding, seriously, we are in the terrible twos right now and OMG, it’s TERRIBLE! But there are moments during my day in the middle of cleaning up water from the dog bowl that has flooded my kitchen by little splashing hands, or sweeping up an entire box of rice crispie treats sprinkled around my home like fairy dust, there are moments when she can come over and say, “Wuv you mommy” and yeah…. I melt. THAT is what I want to capture, the imperfectly perfect moments of my life, if that makes sense.
So that is what I do, in the midst of the crazy chaos that is life and raising a child(ren) I strive to capture your imperfectly perfect lives, because really, 20 years down the line you will probably forget about how terrible the twos really were, and how she would prefer to eat dog kibble over the organic strawberries on her plate, or how he like to “fish” in the toilet bowl.
You’ll remember how only you could make him laugh so hard he couldn’t breathe and it made your heart swell with love and how the baby weight didn’t matter to him.
You will remember how he was the center of BOTH your universe
You’ll remember those big brown eyes that would study you and the world around him with such a curiosity
You’ll remember how at one he was already fighting for independence but his little hand would still linger for security
You’d remember his favorite bedtime story and how you would all snuggle to read it and how you wished those moments would last forever
You’d remember how small his little feet were but they looked just like his fathers and how you loved to kiss those feet that some day would support him as he carried his own child…
And you would remember how the first year of parenthood was the hardest and most challenging thing you have ever done, and how you shed both tears of laughter and joy but also of frustration. And you will look back at that first year and realize that you were now a family, and you had made it and what a celebration!
C
Congratulations to the G, family, One year! I’m glad I was a part of it and I hope you cherish these images even on the most imperfect days!
XOXO
Maria
