Exist in photos
“As a portrait nation, as a photography nation, the global message needs to be that you need to have beautiful photographs. You are good enough to be in a family portrait.You are good enough to be photographed with your kids. You are good enough to exist in photographs. You must celebrate your life. I don’t care how fat you think you are, I don’t care how old you think you are. My job, as a portrait photographer, is to take the most beautiful photograph you have ever seen of yourself, so that you can cherish this for the rest of your life.”
Isn’t it true, that the first thing we would reach for if our house were burning would be the family photos? So why is it that we have so few professionally made portraits of ourselves and our family?
Ironically I’m guilty of not having many portraits with all of us together (and there are only three of us!) so this holiday season I decided to take a self portrait with my family. I’m so glad I did! Sure, it was a bit stressful getting everyone to buy into the idea of spending hours on this portrait, between untangling teenage hair, agreeing on what to wear, figuring out and holding poses. And after setting the self-timer and sliding into position a few dozen times, I was sore! But it was fun!
