Myself

At this moment I am sitting down to a mountain of post processing, a glass of diet pepsi and John Mayer. My office is messy, as usual, but cleared of unwanted distractions. The music is probably louder than you'd think and the images as physical objects are secondary to the process of creating them and the memories therein. These are the moments when I feel the most content, the most at home. When I feel the most like myself.

I am myself when I can sit and think, and when I can create without rules or restriction. I am myself when I can dwell in the fullness of the meaning of a photo.

Every session is deeply meaningful to me. I annoy myself sometimes with the amount of time I'll spend talking about every minute detail of every session I do, with every person who will listen. God bless my husband! Every session stirs something within me and I just can't keep the stories to myself. I like to talk, what can I say? Anyone who knows or has worked with me can attest to that. (I apologize! ha!)

After what has turned out to be a rather lengthy vacation, I had my first opportunity to shoot an entire session in 2008, last week. A very special, rather important session, at that.

My amazing niece Holly's senior portraits.

As I sit here working on the images from her session, I laugh, remembering a semi-obnoxious 7 year old in the backseat of the car, demonstration her dolphin laugh for us, over and over and over again. I remember Christmases and birthdays, holding her the day she was born, and last 4th of July when we laughed uncontrollably in my mom's living room for at least an hour straight.

All of this makes me realize the weight of a portrait. A frozen moment. When I see a beautiful photo I remember that day, the days before it and after. My emotional memory fills in every blank with perfect accuracy. I don't know a better way to document my own history.

I hope you document yours, too.

Take photos often. Print them! Look at them and remember. We won't ever have today back.