When I captured the session of my own kids last summer, I did it with the intention of replacing some portraits we already had hanging over our fireplace. We previously had images from when our blended family first came together – long before our sweet Evan was even a thought in our mind. Fast forward a few years and on an almost daily basis, our little guy would point at the old family picture on the wall and ask, “Where’s Evan?” Being only 2 at the time, he just couldn’t grasp that the portrait was taken before he arrived.
Like any busy mom who has too much on the go and rarely does anything for herself, I didn’t get to printing the portrait right away. But as my crazy fall season slowed down, I ordered my print, picked out a frame, and up it went. When our little guy saw it hanging on the wall, he cheered, “That’s me!” and for the next few weeks, whenever someone came to our door, he would invite them in and say, “Come see the picture! I’m in the picture!”
I often recall an article in which a psychologist states, “We cannot underestimate the power of photographs to keep us feeling linked to others and belonging. They cement us into our networks. For children in particular, looking at photographs is part of the socializing process; learning who you are and where you fit into the family. By displaying photographs of our children at different stages of their lives, we are making a very public statement that we are proud of them.”
I had never really thought of how a portrait on a wall would impact a child, but it made sense and got me thinking. Hanging over my parents’ fireplace is a portrait of my siblings and I captured nearly 30 years ago. It’s always been a comforting sight, and now I get it. I didn’t realize it at the time when I was younger, but seeing that portrait on a daily basis meant I was loved. It meant I was somebody to someone.
And so, this is me practicing what I preach, printing my portraits, and showing my kids that they are loved beyond measure.
