There are thousands are impactful photographs that we all come across on social media every month, every week, even every hour.  But for me, there are a few images that I always come back to.  What’s interesting for me, is that all the photos that really resonate in my mind are Mother & Child portraits.  These images are burned into my brain as some of the best “relationship” type work out there.  All the images are clean, simple and really SHOW a mother’s love.  You can feel the bond in all these images.  The images not only tell a story but make you FEEL something when you are looking at them.

Like Mario Testino’s portrait of Kate Moss and her daughter.

heather donlan

Or the striking and beautiful portrait of Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother, Blyth Danner, photographed by Annie Leibovitz.  This is one of my favorite images that shows the lasting love of a mother for her daughter, no matter what age.

©Annie Leibovitz

And lastly the fierce and protective portrait of Glenn Close and her daughter.

Glenn Close

And so it’s with these greats that I look to inspiration and guidance when working with my own clients.  What image will my client cherish for the rest of their lives and pass down to their children and grandchildren?  In what images will they really “see” themselves?  This session with mom and son resonated with me and made me realize how much I truly love capturing the love between a mother and her child.  I was so inspired when working amongst this tender relationship and truly believe that every mother deserves one iconic shot like this in their lifetime.  Something that they can feel proud of that says, I was a protector, I was playful, I was fierce, I was a safe harbor, I was gentle, I was beautiful, I was love.

More to come on on these beautiful Mother & Child Sessions, so stay tuned…

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COMMENTS

Oh Charla, I’m so glad that you have sometime to remind yourself of that time with him. It’s so fleeting– for me, I get so caught up with how hard it is when they are young– and make no mistake it is hard, but it also goes by so fast.. it feels like one minute they need you and the next they somehow have figured out how to cook their own eggs and are making plans for themselves on the weekends and I think EEEKKKK– it’s going by too fast. I wish I really understood how precious that time was when they were little.

Beautiful art that will last forever and I look forward to seeing the growth of the mother child relationship. One of my favorite portraits in my family room is the one of me holding Avi while he was a newborn.