A picture tells a story...

Also visit my Beyond the Photography by DonnaKay blogspot @ http://beyondthephotographybydonnakay.blogspot.com ... a little better way to get to know more about me personally...

As a Mom with three grown children it is not unusual to find me looking through the stacks and stacks of old pictures from when my kids were younger.  In fact, I often look back even further in the photos at pictures of when I was growing up -- photos of family, friends, old flames, past pets....  And while this can be a bit of nostalgia, for me it's often more.  So many of those pictures hold a story for me.  I can look back at that picture of my best friend and me with our prom dates and remember that huge deodorant that rolled out of her purse and across the floor at that nice restaurant.  It makes me laugh, and in some ways it is as if I've revisited that night in some way.  (By the way, she is still a best friend of mine even today, and it would not surprise me in the least for the same thing to happen with her now!)  As a Mom, there's no surprise that I can look at some of the photos of my kids, especially as babies, and I am right back in that moment - almost able to smell that baby scent. 

In my Mom's house the walls of the stairwell that leads up to the 2nd floor is covered on both sides with family photos...each of them holding a special moment.  My kids are there, as are my brothers two girls.  But there are also pictures of my brother and I growing up, of my grandparents, aunts uncles....even pictures of my Nanny as a little girl.  So much history is covered in the pictures on this stairwell... and so many stories are told through them.  For close to 18 years I've passed by these pictures when I am at my Mom's house, and I would have to guess that almost every time I go up or down those stairs I pause to look and reminisce. I never tire of looking at those same photos. 

A picture always tells a story.  It most often will be a story about the moment that photo was taken, but there are times that the story will reflect more on who was taking the picture.  As a photographer, when I am doing a photo shoot for someone I always consider that they are entrusting me to capture some important momories for them to hold onto and share...hopefully for a very long time.  Maybe that is why I describe myself as a lifestyle photographer.  As I venture more and more through the photography world, I find that I love all aspects of photography, but some more than others.  But even when I'm in more of a studio setting, I really want the personalities of the people I am photographing to come through.  Hopefully if my photos reflect on me as the photographer, it will be because whoever is looking at them sees all the heart and love that was put into capturing the moment.