the gift certificate

 
Anyone regularly visiting this photo-journal might get the impression that I don’t enjoy photographing families, which isn’t entirely accurate. While I do prefer the more intimate nature of photographing fewer subjects, I really do find observing the dynamics of families fascinating. It truly never gets boring because each family offers something unique, where I have the fun job of conveying this distinctiveness onto film.

What I do struggle with are the shoots driven by the pursuit of creating an image to please or even impress others. Of course the prime example of this being the illustrious holiday portrait session. I understand completely the desire to have a pretty picture of the family we take pride in to send to loved ones at a distance. But I think what gets screwy is when the sole objective of the session is only the final product–a “perfect” family portrait–the journey towards that end holds no magic. I think of holiday shoots as being of the expressway variety; fast and furious in an effort to just *get there* as quickly as possible. And I’m a backroads kind of girl who wants to meander through quiet terrain less heavily traveled, even take in an unexpected side trip if it looks intriguing. So these shoots can be taxing on me.

When I got the call from my clients shown here wanting to redeem a gift certificate he had given his wife a year ago that was about to expire I sorta dreaded it. He’d purchased a very generous session at the beach for their family as well as the grandparents. Because of the time of year I naturally expected it to be a holiday photo session, and wasn’t thrilled at the prospect since I had to squeeze the shoot into an already busy schedule.

It was the final session of a very long weekend and I was beat going into it. It didn’t take long at all to realize though, that the session was a gift to this mom alone. We were creating portraits for her so that she might have a lasting beautiful record of this very rich and changing period of her life, and I could feel the difference in the atmosphere because of that. While she still wanted in part the traditional groupings of a family session, the expectations were loose and open. I wasn’t five minutes into the shoot when any tiredness I’d felt prior left me completely and the treasure hunt was on. I actually was disappointed when the sun went down too soon and we were forced to finish. I’d lost all track of time and so had they because we were fully enmeshed in the now.

I wish that every family session could be approached as a gift to the family itself. Where the desire is more to reach deeply towards the genuine than to simply present a flawless surface. The thing is, I believe when the motivation is one of revealing the essence of the love that is at the core of family, true beauty can’t fail to emerge at some point. Although it might be a bit messy, and not exactly look like a Norman Rockwell scene. Ü

~Cynthia