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I had the privilege of photographing Tracy a couple of times. She had this to share with me ” I am by nature a woman who does not like her photo taken. I’ve not thought of myself as a
woman who looks good in photos. Funnily, neither did my mom. And then, she passed away at the
age of 47. Over the next months and years of grieving, I realized there were just a small handful of
photos of her. We had lots of my sister and me, even my dad. But she was always missing, or
hand up in front of her face or ducking out of the way.
As I grew up and married, and had a child of my own, we didn’t have many pictures of me, and the
ones I did have I really disliked.
One day, it hit me. If I were to die as young as my mother did, my own son would not have
photos to remember our time together. He would struggle to remember the lines of my face,
the way I looked when I smiled, the twinkle in my eyes from emotions, my life force. All these
things fade from memory over time. And I knew it so very well. That’s the moment I decided to
change my feelings about not being pretty enough or thin enough to be photographed. He is
not going to care. He will remember that was me, and he’ll have to photo to remind him of the
details that fade over time.
Having an opportunity to then have family portraits made when he was a senior really completed
the circle for me. I now had some beautiful photos for all of us to enjoy.”