I haven’t been here on this blog very much because I am struggling with what to write. I know it is mainly photos and I need to remember that. Set a schedule and blog. So that is what I plan to do for 2012. Twice a week I will sit down and blog. I will blog old shoots, new shoots, and as always my personal family snapshots.
I am heading to VA beach today to spend the rest of the week with my entire family. My mom, my siblings and their families. I can’t wait to spend 4 days with them all.
I woke up this morning to a very exciting email. There is a photographer in Australia I found a few months ago. His name is Tim Colson and he offered his first giveaway on his blog. I love his style and am working on growing myself into a more journalistic type of photographer. I am totally inspired by his work. Back to the giveaway. He was offering it to someone anywhere in the world. You could enter but if you won you had to give the shoot to someone else. He asked that you share someones story about why they deserved to win. I entered my mom and even though I would be in it, I thought she was deserving of it. Being a photographer I am always taking pictures never in them, so I wanted to offer my mom an opportunity to have a family shoot with me in it. Below is what I entered:
I am a photographer from Philadelphia, PA, USA. I am not sure how I found your blog, but I have fallen in love with your work. It is stunning and heartwarming. I feel like I am a part of everyone of your families.Â
I am not sure this would count but I am going to enter anyway. You can decide if it qualifies. That being said it isn’t for me, but I would be in the shoot. I would love to give a shoot to my mom that I could be in for her. I am always behind the camera never in front of it. I know it would mean the world to her for me to be in our family snap shots. My entire family lives together all summer long at our family beach house. I know I am so very fortunate to be surrounded by my family so often.Â
My mom is the first woman to live past 50 in her family. Her mom died of breast cancer at 49 when my mom was 20, she had two babies at the time and moved home to raise her 15 year old sister. Her sister died at the age of 40 from Breast Cancer 16 years ago. My mom helped to raise her daughters who were 2 and 7 at the time. My mom found out she had breast cancer when she was 59. She had a double mastectomy and she is an inspiration to everyone around her. She is the most amazing person I know. In honor of her sister and her mother she walks every single year in the Susan G. Komen 3 day. She walks 60 miles in 3 days. For the last 20 years we walk every mother’s day in honor of all the woman who have suffered from Breast Cancer. She also is a peer sponsor at the hospital where she found comfort and recovery from her cancer.
She has suffered so much loss in her life yet she is the most positive person I know. My father passed away 10 years ago and I know he is the love of her life. She still to this day claims that he is. That their love was something she was blessed to have. My youngest brother committed suicide 18 months ago. He suffered from years of addiction even with that she continues on. From his death she honored his memory by starting a charity in his honor called Project Call Home. http://www.projectcallhome.blogspot.com. She knits hats for addicts in the city of Philadelphia.
Life is short and I don’t take a moment of it for granted. I would love to capture my mom, my siblings, their families, and myself in our life at the beach. I know it would mean the world to her.
Tim emailed me this morning and although I didn’t win the contest I won something even better. Next time he is in the states he will come to my family beach house and shoot with me. He will capture me with my family and while doing so I will be able to learn from someone I respect as a fellow photographer. I can’t wait to see what he captures when it comes to my family. I would also love to in return offer to photograph Tim with his wife Kesh and their new baby when they visit.
2012 is going to be a fantastic year. I promise to make more appearances in photos as well as here on the blog. Here is a small portion of my family on Christmas morning at my brother’s house.
