“Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what is carefully hidden.” – Phaedrus

This shoot is quite a rarity for me.. you wont often see anything with props or set ups on my blog as I’ve often thought that creating contrived images meant that they would be devoid of meaning. But then this mom and I met and I realized that a styled shoot can be so much more than pretty details and perfect set ups.. for this mom, it was about healing and celebrating, and having something bright and beautiful to look forward to in a less than bright time. It was about the entire experience – enjoying getting together to conceptualize the details of the shoot over coffee all the way down to executing the shoot itself.  So, yet again, my job has shown to me that things are often more than the superficial exterior and even so much more than a pretty shoot with a teepee in the middle of the forest.  Like the woman who is short with you in line because you took a long time at the register, but in reality is dealing with an unexpected cancer diagnosis…. or like the person who rudely couldn’t commit to going to your important family party but in reality didn’t have the heart to tell you they had to pick up extra night shifts for work so their home isn’t foreclosed on… like the woman who we all think is a terrible mother because she feeds her kids fast food but in reality is a single mom working three jobs just to pay her bills and doesn’t have a car to drive to a grocery store to buy produce and make meals… It’s the complicated circumstances that you will never understand until you go a little deeper than the surface which is frankly a perspective we should all approach things and people in life with…

 

above: Having her son was a complete miracle. I can’t think of any more fitting element to include in her shoot than to celebrate the remnants of such a trying but amazing time in their family’s life. So many of my clients have shared their stories of struggle to have their children, and I’m touched that this mom would let me share such a vulnerable part of herself and her own story.  

 

….aaand just for fun we did some shots of mom with her sister, who came along to help with styling everything 🙂