My Mom; 70 Years Ago

I have heard from my sisters that my mom was a bit of a heartbreaker in her younger years. She had me, her 6th of 8 births when she was 30, and by that time had settled well into the life of a housekeeper who worked part time as a secretary. All those years of raising babies could certainly slow a person down, but you wouldn't know it from looking at Mom. She was always ready to go; to meet for lunch (her treat) to spend some time at Capwell's, or to visit someone who might be a shut-in. So no, I never knew of the heartbreaker, and who ever wants to think of their mom that way?! But going through the boxes of photos retreived from her home after her passing I found the photo you see above. I honestly have never seen this photo before, but truly love it. By the date on the back, my mom is only 14 years old, but her charm is so evident.

It's not a great photo in any technical sense; the lighting is a little over-exposed, the angle of view makes her legs look large, but it's a great portrait in that it very much shows her personality, charm, and a little of the element that made my dad fall head over heals in love with her that blind date on Treasure Island in the San Francisco bay. And for that, it is priceless to me.

Portrait Photography Through the Ages

As a modern day portrait photographer and a member of the great digital society, I am sometimes overwhelmed with technology that is too often taken for granted. Because of the ease of digital photography so many photos are taken and relatively few ever get printed, let alone find a deserved place on someone's wall or desk top. I pray that we never forget how important portrait photography is in documenting the brief lives of loved ones' days and years spent on this earth. For many who've gone before us; grandparents and great grandparents, a photograph or two might be all we have to show they walked this earth, and ideally expresses a little bit of who they were.

My mom recently passed away at the young age of 83. Over the past few months I've spent time in my parents' home of 50-plus years. I was elated to find some precious photographs, some with dates and documentation, some with little or no info. Thankfully, my mom's father was an avid amatuer photographer, and many of these photos were the fruit of his passion to document friends, travels, co-workers and his own large family.

I want to talk some more about this in coming blogs, but for now I will post a single photo that I find very charming. It's one Grandfather likely took; I recognize the backyard of their home in Berkeley. It's of my mom and her 5 siblings. She was the youngest, that little smiling gem, and would be 13 years old when this was taken. Without photography, how could I ever enjoy this moment captured 70 years later. God bless! Andy

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