Yvonne

There was something quite special about seeing my mom in this light, through this lens. Although I’d seen her various displays of emotion and heard countless amounts of laughing, seen moments of sorrow, witnessed her smiles and frowns in every amount of light… something that felt different in this moment than any of those other times was her comfort in completely and fully trusting me with her truth. I felt a desire to do justice to her portraits, a remarkable and overwhelming sense of responsibility to balance the boat of emotion we were unexpectedly drifting in within those studio walls. As her confidence in her trust in me grew, she became more relaxed and became more open in sharing her stories. My dad and youngest sister were in the room with us and brought out that contagious laugh we all love so much. “Talk about the time you brought Nicko home from the hospital when she was born.” My mom’s eyes dropped to the floor and her big smile fell into a sweet, gentle half-smile. Her eyes welled with tears and I could see she was remembering that day; the day she brought me home after two months of being in the hospital due to my premature birth. She couldn’t form words, but she didn’t need to. I could see it on her face how precious that memory was to her, and I dare not extract something so delicate if she wanted to hold onto it.
The rest of the session was uplifting and lighthearted as we swam into these waters of memories and chaos of a young mother raising three girls. Although her session was shorter than most, I saw my mother in a way I’d never seen before; and I thank my lucky stars every day that she is who she is and that I got to experience that trust with her emotions. I pray I did her justice.