it's difficult to articulate how special this shoot was. and i notice that often it's the most special of projects that cause me to struggle with finding words!
thank goodness for the words images speak that we cannot.
well, first off, it's helpful to know this beautiful mother is my friend. and her beautiful daughter, Amaeya, is filled with that same light. the one that shines through Lareesa.
and so yes, this shoot was very special. it was like photographing two beautiful beams of light. in a very metaphorical way of course :)
i met Lareesa a few years ago back when we made the move from minneapolis to seattle. she and i worked together at my first job out here! i was so nervous to start a new job in an entirely new city, but i instantly felt at ease around her as a co-worker (and quickly, a friend).
i still remember her saying on my first day of work that i could always eat lunch with her if i wanted to. like, how sweet!!! that's the fear, right? eating alone at lunch?
so yes, that is but a small morsel of truth about how kind this soul and human is. and to say that i felt honored to photograph her and her daughter (alongside one of her best childhood friends, GODMOTHER to mae mae and fellow seattle area artist, Briona) is an understatement. i felt like i was being welcomed into a memory i had no idea i'd partake in. but now that i have, i am wont to think on my life without it. without these people who have impacted me so deeply.
gosh, all. my clients impact me so deeply. it's true. every single story. every single narrative of a life that i have the honor of capturing, has moved me and changed me.
so, it was the really small movements that captured my heart with this session. the seemingly small gestures; these, these are where all the beauty lies for me when photographing loved ones.
the tummy squeeze, the gentle nudge, the breathy kiss, the awkward tumbles... it's all. a. part. of. love.
Amaeya kept examining everything before her. the lemons, mostly, and the flowers. oh yes the flowers. incidentally, she tried eating the flowers, not the fruit. and mystically, mysteriously, wonderfully, Lareesa told me her Grandmother had a photo of her trying to eat a flower when she was a baby.
like, what!!! you can't make these things up, people.
so what was the vision here? how do this all come to fruition (enjoy my little pun? well i'm not into puns, but if you enjoyed it, I'M GLAD!).
well, the vision was actually inspired by my grandmother!
briona, lareesa and i were discussing what direction to go. my grandmother had recently passed away, and peaches were her favorite fruit. in fact, they were the last thing she asked for before she passed.
the mystical strangeness of it all, is that i had been craving peaches and reading about them in a book quite literally on the day she died, without knowing of her passing until later.
and so, peaches became the inspiration, and lemons. i gathered these items, along with some flowers that carried these similar orange tones, and just to add some variation, a purple seeded flower as well. all these colors really looked stunning when compiled in a gorgeous heap with the gorgeous subjects :)
in the space between lareesa and Amaeya you can spot Briona's lens :)
that's a proud god parent right there.
Amaeya was not a huge fan of being without her mother for these images. but does she ever look sweet, nonetheless <3
yes, in her mama's arms is where she belongs. <3
the following are a random assortment of my favorite from this session. thank you, as always, for supporting my art <3 and thank you, to every single human and soul that graces me with their presence and lives in front of my lens.
your story is quite literally why it is i chose to photograph and video memories for a living.
xoxo,
