A few days ago, I shared a photograph on social media (see it in Facebook, Instagram and linkedIn) - one taken 32 years ago with a woman I cared for deeply. It’s the last photograph I have with/of her before she passed away from COVID five years ago. When I learned she was gone, the first thought that hit me was: I don’t have a good photograph of her to remember her by.
That realization deepened my grief in a way I wasn’t prepared for. It reminded me how much we rely on photographs to hold on to the people we love - not just their faces, but their spirit, their presence, their energy.
That experience became a part of why I do what I do today, especially for women - and even more so for women over 40.
I've shared that story with clients countless times, often through tears, as a reminder: we all deserve to be seen, celebrated, and remembered with intention.
So today, for Mother's Day, I want to share something due to requests from the recent social media posts.
In the wake of that loss, I gifted my mother a portrait session two years ago, when the world was slowly re-emerging from COVID. She’s in her late 70s, and - I'll be honest - one of my most challenging clients. Not because of her age, but because of the cultural gap and how foreign this kind of portrait experience was for her.
She didn’t grow up being told she could be the subject, the center, the story. But with much effort on my end, she eventually came around to trust me. And together (with my sister’s help - you see the hands holding the “Vanity Fan”?), we made this image.
Truth be told, it helps to speak her language. When I look at her in this photograph, I see someone flying again - a nod to her days as a gymnast, when she would soar through the air with power and grace. That spirit? It’s still there. Still alive in her. Still flying.
This portrait isn’t just an image. It’s an emotional anchor. A reminder of her journey and stories that are uniquely hers.
I share it with you today as a celebration - not just of my mother, but of all mothers who have quietly carried so much, given so much, and who deserve to be seen in all their beauty and strength.
Happy Mother’s Day!
P.S. How I manage my mother’s expectation that she can still fly these days is a subject on its own. Personally, I would much prefer her flying sitting down, like the one portraited in this image. 😜
P.P.S. In case you haven’t seen the other portrait that I shared of her, click on this link and you’ll be there. In it, she was in the same dress that she wore to my wedding decades before.
