Not Me, just the Kids
Even before they are born, before your eyes meet theirs for the first time and your hearts collide in recognition and irrevocable love, they have changed you. Your life’s focus shifts. You evaluate new priorities and reassess old ones. You discover fresh strength to overcome bad habits and accept greater responsibilities. You learn to speak differently, act differently. Additionally, you build new friendships and allow unhealthy relationships to fall by the wayside. For many parents, the lives they knew before their children seem hazy and incomplete. Like part of them hadn’t started yet. Like they were waiting for something – or someone.
Your family is your top priority. You work hard to raise them decently, to provide a safe, thriving existence to nurture their ambitions. You support them in every way, and it’s an around-the- clock job. The slippage of time is less than subtle. Each day moves a little faster. As the days pass, they are growing into unique, interesting people before your very eyes. You want to hold onto these moments as much as possible and to keep something of this moment to savor forever. Because the pace isn’t slowing. Blink, and the next thing you know it’s sporting events, competitions, plays, award ceremonies, proms, part- time jobs, graduation, college, a quiet home that suddenly seems much too large.
And in the soft birdsong that accompanies your morning coffee on the porch, you remember yourself. Something from that former life, no longer incomplete, reawakens. You have a shelf full of albums, walls covered with photos of your loved ones. They tell a story of joy and connection, of triumph and laughter and love. They show the wizened gaze of time on every face but one. Yours. Because you were always the one behind the camera. You are the one cheering from the sidelines or standing in the back of the audience. You are the one who gathered everyone together, the one who sat and watched with pride while their portraits were taken. You’ve done everything and more to ensure their stories were told as completely and lovingly as possible, and now it’s time to tell yours.
Your worth belongs in front of the lens. The value you hold as a mother, a grandmother, a wife, a champion, a matriarch, a bold and graceful spirit, is more than what you do for others. It’s your ability. Your skill. Your strength and candor. It’s how your laughter sounds like a song. It’s your infectious smile. It’s your knack for knowing just what to say and do. It’s how you brighten a room.
You’ve shown those you love how priceless they are to you. In fact, by taking this opportunity to appreciate yourself, to celebrate who you are and what you’ve accomplished, you will be an example to those you hold dear, and to other women just like you. They will see your beauty, and their own, through the elegance and courage that shines from your images. Consequently, it may even be that you find something of you that was forgotten, or that you never knew existed.
At Photos by Gina, I can design a shoot during your personal consultation that will highlight the many facets of what makes you uniquely, gloriously you. I’ll share tips and expertise to help you decide how you want to be photographed and what types of art you’ll enjoy from handcrafted heirloom albums to gallery-quality wall art. I’ll provide guides to prepare you and answer any questions you may have about the process.
On the day of your session, my hair and makeup professionals will use luxury products and techniques to create styles to complement your wardrobe and portraiture choices. Additionally, using high-end equipment and a mastery of posing and lighting, I’ll guide you through a series of looks to give you the most beautiful photos of yourself you’ve ever owned. These are images you will cherish and proudly display for years. And if your kids want to come, we’d love to photograph them with you, because they are a part of your life, inheritors of your legacy, and they deserve to be with you in a moment of you at your very best.
