Today is Mother’s Day! I just got back from speaking in Texas, and have a lot of wonderful photo shoots to post and talk about — some fantastic and glamourous images I created here at my studio before I left, as well as work I did in Texas.
However, in looking them over and trying to decide what to post about today, I decided that I’d rather post a family portrait in honor of Mother’s Day.
This is the latest photograph of my family, and I created it at my sister’s wedding. I set it all up, stepped in, and fired it with a remote that’s in my other hand. It shows my folks, my sister, her new husband, and my grandma — it’s a portrait of the three women in my family.
I love that we as a nation, have a special day set apart just to honor the women and mothers in our families. It’s a great day to show the love and respect that we all have for them.
There are many great lessons that I’ve learned from my mom, more than I could possibly list here. Because this is a public blog, I don’t want to get too personal, but I’ll just list a few things that have to do with my business.
It’s because of her that I have a love of beauty and of working in my garden and yard (which is on my to-do list tomorrow). She’s been my champion and my photographic critic, and is one of the reasons I’m an artist today.
Throughout the years, my mom has always encouraged me to do better, she’s helped me raise my level of quality, and has always helped me troubleshoot problems in my business so that I could go further. She’s helped edit my books and magazine articles and has helped me become better at words and writing.
And it’s because of her and my upbringing that I have a love and respect for women. Many people have noted over the years that I photograph women in a respectful and attractive way, without objectifying. I owe this to my mom. It has always been my goal for complete strangers to be able to look at one of my portraits and feel like they know who the person is inside in some way. That I think, is a different and higher level of attractiveness.
My folks have taught me integrity, honesty, and a love for others, and I know that it’s because of them that I am who I am today.
So even though I’ve wished my Mom this many times today, I just wanted to say publicly, Happy Mother’s Day!