A Mother's Days

So here is the little project I was telling you about in the last post. It will be featured in the Hewlett Packard newsletter (which goes out to 16 million people, THANKS AGAIN Tracey!) as their May Snapshot. The idea was to do something which celebrates Mother's Day, by using their new All-In-One Printer. So I dug through the big bin to find an old photograph of my grandmother holding my mom, my mom holding me, and then me with one of my kids. Scanned them in, and printed the exact size I needed. The print quality was great. I kept thinking, good thing I give the CDs out with my packages, because scanners are GOOD these days. If I still relied on print sales, I'd be out of business. Anyway this would make a great gift for a Mom or Grandma, and it was super easy!

Now for the heart breaking part of it. I thought it would be cool, since my grandmother and mom are in the same positions, to find one of me like that too. Not only does that photo not exist, but there are NO PHOTOS of me holding my babies. Besides a few that were snapped in the hospitals, I am basically non-existent at every first tooth, birthday, bath time, you name it. Jason looks like he's a single dad raising three kids that he surrogated from an egg bank. Or something. Anyway, I'd sort of known this was the case. But I'm really thankful that I had to do this project. It made me realize HOW BAD IT REALLY IS. I mean, the best shot I could find of myself was a snapshot with my sunglasses on when Chance is about 8 months old. It's especially lame, considering that my job is DOCUMENTING LIFE. So, I'm done. I've joked about it before. But I'm seriously DONE ERASING MYSELF. And I usually don't write stuff here that really upsets me. But I'm letting you in on my lame mistake so that if anyone is out there WAITING FOR YOUR REAL LIFE TO START SO THAT THEN YOU CAN TAKE A PICTURE OF IT...STOP!! PLEASE STOP waiting until you lose weight. Or until you have make-up on. Or until the house is clean. Because one day, when you decide you want to remember what it felt like to hold your brand new baby, you will dig and dig through a mountain of photographs that are not you. And you will really, really regret it.

Comments

[Melody A.]

Great reminder since you are not the only one.

[Jennifer A.]

Amen, sister. I'm even going to jump in a pic with my jammies and no bra on (GASP!). Our kids won't care what we looked like in pictures...they'll just be so happy to see pictures of themselves WITH us!

And, what is that new "RELISH" look you've got going on? So thrilled and surprised to see my big ole' face on the blog link...

XOXO!

[Kal]

I think you should hire a photographer to do a shoot with YOUR family. That's not a joke either. Maybe even hire a hack and edit the photo yourself... BUT DO SOMETHING. I'll send you my remote control!

[Kate Mefford]

So, yeah. WHEN ARE YOU COMING UP HERE??????????? I smell a family photo session swap!

[Ma']

Bittersweet. The three generations. Sweet. The self-erasement, bitter. My mind began screaming, surely there is a picture! There HAS to be a picture somewhere! This is so a Dr. Phil moment! Where your tragedy will lend to everyone else's fulfillment.

I laid my ego down about thirteen hundred miles ago. Kept waiting for my nose to get smaller.

What I really loved about your photos was Grandy holding me, and then me - you, and you - Chance. Didn't it look like we just passed the same baby from one picture to the next?

[cathy]

great reminder. Now I just have to trust someone in my family with MY camera. :)

Hmmmm...and double hmmmm...I totally rely on print sales. Yikes. I'm gonna have to work that out.

[Anna at Hank & Willie]

You are so right. When my mom died, it was hard to find photos of her with us four kids, we were 8-21 at the time.

And now, I have so few photos of me with my boys! I'm jumping in TODAY.
THANK YOU!

[Rochelle]

You made my eyes well up with tears. You said it so beautifully. As mothers, we need to appreciate each moment because when we look back those moments are gone so quickly.

[mallory]

What a great idea...You are truly the most talented person I know,,,

[Diane Arias]

Can't wait to see those shots of you on this blog IN FRONT of the camera. You are now part of your own life story with your beautiful imperfections. YAY!

[Paige]

Whoa, I just wrote a post about this very thing on Shutter Sisters on Saturday! It is bittersweet but the framed photos still look great and it's awesome that you are now conscious of it. Now you can start adding yourself to the family album.

[Sandee]

My kiddos affectionately called me "Ghost Mom" as once, while doing a school project that required photos, we couldn't hardly find a photo with me in it. The joke was that if I died suddenly, would they please remember a skinnier, prettier "me". I still am AWOL from photos, but am getting better on asking someone to take one with me in it..a work in progress-thanks for the reminder.

[Heather España Photography]

Amen to this. THIS is what I want so badly for mamas to realize before it's too late! I linked to you on my blog, underneath a photo that MY mama let me take of her :). Go mom!

[tracey]

waaaah. i know how that feels. great project maile but it did break my heart a little.

[Ma']

Saw the HP ad! Wonderful! Then I had to reread this post and it made me tear.
I love you so, so much.

[Caro]

I am a mother of 4 young children aged 10 down to 2 years. I am a photographer. I spend my life making beautiful photos of other people's families. And yes, you guessed it...
I don't have a single photo of me with my four kids...
What am I going to be doing tomorrow??? Yep, I think you guessed!