The Tribute to Motherhood Project 2020-2021
Time passes quickly as children grow up, with fleeting moments that disappear as the years go by. Motherhood portraits carry your legacy and will be enjoyed by your children and their children for generations to come. As a tribute to the strength and beauty of motherhood, I invited 75 mothers and their children to my downtown Vancouver, Washington, studio for a family portrait session and a mother and child, Black and White Portrait Study. The project concluded with the gorgeous motherhood portraits in a published coffee table book.
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My story...
When I first became a mom, I wanted to learn more about my mother's experience and what motherhood was like for her.
As I scoured through boxes of loose pictures in search of portraits of myself as a baby with my mom, I was saddened to learn that not one existed! I was the youngest of three girls and my busy parents didn’t take the time for family portraits.
What I did find among the myriad of snapshots was a beautiful photo of my mother as a young child with her mom. I am so grateful to have this picture of my grandmother. I was only six years old when she passed away, but I remember her beautiful soul filled with a plentitude of kindness and love.
When my son was born, I was intent on capturing our family at every stage of his life, making up for those photos I didn’t have of my own childhood. When he was just a few months old, I asked a professional photographer to take a black and white portrait to capture the emotional connection between me and my son without the distraction of color and backgrounds. To this day, it is my favorite portrait of the two of us. My only regret was not printing it much, much larger. Being a mom has meant the world to me, and through my Tribute to Motherhood Project, I hope to learn what motherhood means to you.
