Photographing My Parents

My parents are beautiful by any standard. You're not going to believe this...I've never photographed them before a week ago. December 8th was my mother's 70th birthday and I felt like it was finally time to point my camera at them and create some portraits.

Snapshots don't celebrate.

Sure, I've taken a lot of pictures of them at family get-togethers, dinners or holidays - generally surrounded by children and grandchildren - never alone. If we had to suddenly create a frame-able portrait of them, we'd probably have to cut them out of a group photo...

There have been many snapshots taken with my phone. As a family of photographers, none of us ever have a professional camera with us. Guess where these snapshots are... Yep, still on my phone. Have I ever printed one of them? No. Here's one from my mother's birthday two years ago - I had to search for it:

A snapshot generally isn't something that is enlarged and placed on the wall. A snapshot never made someone, old or young, feel special or cherished.

Parents pay professionals to photograph their children - not their parents.

It happens a lot. From the week that they're born, children are being professionally photographed. That first year, many parents pay for multiple sessions with a photographer. After that, it happens at least once a year. It's part of being a good parent. We feel a responsibility to do it.

Strangely, we don't feel that same responsibility to photograph our parents. We love our parents but we don't have portraits of them. Often, when I see an obituary of an older person, the family has chosen a picture when he or she was young. Likely, the last portrait was decades ago that the recently deceased parent had a portrait created. Often, any professional portraits from the past fifty years were as part of an ever-enlarging family picture!

Portraits connect generations.

Besides not having an appropriate portrait for an obituary (a morbid thought), the problem with not photographing our elders is we are doing a poor job of connecting generations together. It's a 'hole' in our families that we ought to fill.

Some of us are feeling the pull to photograph our parents. Just today, I received this email:

"My name is Jennifer Rose and I was able to connect you to Scott Adams from a news article that I found online.

Growing up, your dad did some amazing photos of my family. We often came to his studio, but we also had photos done on my family's farm. My parents had large copies of these photos printed and framed, and they are a huge part of my childhood memories. They hang all over my parent's home.

My parents are starting to get older, and I was recently thinking about the possibility of having a nice portrait done of them. I was mentioning to my mom that when I think of my grandparents now passed away, I often think of their portraits that we had hanging in our home.

I would love to have a portrait done of my parents, and I know it would mean so much to them and to our entire family if they were able to have it done by Scott. However, I don't know if he is still doing photography and would be willing and able to do that? I was hoping this could be something that we could gift to my parents, but I wouldn't anticipate having the portrait done until sometime after the holidays, potentially this spring.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Jennifer Rose"

Jennifer is realizing how much portraits have connected her family. She understands how important it was to have portraits of her grandparents hanging up in her family's home. She gets it and is making her parents' portrait session happen.

I love these portraits!

Of course I love my parents. I tell them often. I end almost every conversation with 'I love you.' However, it's one thing for me to say it. It's another to show it.

I think taking the time to photograph them is the perfect way to show them that I love them, that they're beautiful and important to me.

You don't have to be a photographer to make this happen. You can orchestrate a portrait session. Shameless plug: YURU can help you.

As I look at their images, I feel their personality and see their character. I'm so grateful that I have these portraits. It brings me closer to them every time I look at their image. One day, it'll help me remember them and feel connected to them. What's that worth?

Now is the perfect time.

Often, senior citizens aren't excited to get their portrait taken. They know they aren't as 'beautiful' as they once were. They may feel like they need to lose weight, change their hair or buy new clothes.

Don't give in. Convince them.

Regret is a horrible thing to live with. Many people have expressed their regret in not encouraging/forcing their parent or grandparent to get their portrait done. Often, it becomes too late - whether it's an unexpected death or a gradual decline - time slips away.

There's never a better time than right now to photograph your parent...just as they are...right now.