Why I take pictures...

I take pictures because I want to write this note to my children 20 years from now, and for it to be true….

Dear lovelies,

That’s it! That’s the last one-- the prints that hung around our home are now shared out amongst all of you, hanging in your own homes as a reminder of our love shared and your lives, lived together and wrapped in each other. I never knew what I’d capture when I clicked away, but you gave me the most beautiful moments to take. No matter what you were doing, you being you created the most natural sort of art—it made me feel like I was privy to the telling of a beautiful secret, and that secret was each of you. Together we created art out of our everyday, sculpting stories without a script, each one different from the last.

There is a fullness that comes from creating, whether it be for yourself, or someone else; a deep feeling of coming home, of arriving, of being wrapped in the comfort of what you’ve known has been in you all along.  Twenty years ago I had to choose between heart and head; sanity or security; between the direction I wanted to go and the direction in which others were pushing.  Replacing the question of “What do I want to get out of this life?” with “What gift can I give you in yours?” gave me my answer.

I had to “come home” to myself—fully and completely, in both mind and in action. Embracing my creative truth became the best way that I knew of to make sure you wouldn’t lose yours.  Teaching you to love the art of creating became more important to me than my love of teaching other children. Instead of returning to the classroom, I created one for us. Other photographers and the passion of their arts became my teachers, and moments became the lessons, all to be shared with you. Creating is the natural state of who we are--something you as children knew but we forget all too easily as adults. Through you, I made the choice to remember, so I could give to you what I learned by letting myself come home so many years ago.

So as you look at our pictures that now hang on your walls remember our moments, and how the stories we were became the tales that we are, and never forget this…

Embrace your creative gifts and always share them with others. Remember this as the truth when there is doubt; as the solution when there is a problem; and as only answer ever--no matter what the question.

Love,

Momma

May 17, 2033