I started off as a family and child photographer five years ago, but what I noticed was that people only came to get photographs taken with their children and spouses. I never had a client asking me to take photographs of their parents or grandparents or even photos of their children and parents.
So I decided to divide my work time into two parts. I spent one half of my month photographing my clients the way they wanted me to and the other half was dedicated to requesting grandparents and great-grandparents (who I would invite via model calls or would randomly approach in public places) to come and be photographed by me with their grandkids.
On one such shoot in Houston, Texas, this year, I noticed that while I was photographing one grandparent with their grandchild, the other grandparent was just standing silently in a corner. So, for the sake of their memories together, I asked both grandparents if I could photograph them together... and I haven't stopped doing that now.
Whichever country I visit, I make sure I photograph elderly couples there together and I cannot express how fulfilling this has been for me. The stories I hear of their lives together... and the pure and honest love that I witness in the course of these shoots is just beyond amazing.
One of the elderlies said to me, "When we were young, we had so much around us to distract us. Our love always seemed to be so rushed... so incomplete. But now that we have only each other, this love, this companionship is all that matters."
I've recently had an opportunity to interact with several senior couples at a long term care facility. One couple in particular stands out...the husband visits his wife every day after lunch; she has dementia and lives in the memory care unit while the husband lives in assisted living. They sit and hold hands while they watch TV, like a couple of teenagers experiencing first love.
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
Posts: 38221 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
I've read your quote, read your link, and looked at the pictures.
Honestly, I think the pictures are maudlin.
After reading what she herself wrote about them, I'd only ask (rhetorically) how she manages to stay in business after changing from a "regular" business model to one allowing her to spend half her time to invite inviting elderly models to see her.
I enjoy the pictures I get after holidays with my brother and his extended family on the front steps of my brother's turn of the century (1904, I think) house. The pictures include his children and their spouses down to greatgrandchildren and the same for his wife. More families should do that. Would join them but I get tired of the right-wing carp.
-------------------------------- Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.
Posts: 25850 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005
