~Reason for Portraits~I have an affinity for my family genealogy, always have… Unfortunately there is a loss of images even from my own parents. There are only a few poorly lit 4×6′s of my parent’s wedding, barely any of them as a couple period. I have nothing but a small oval print of myself and my parents when I was 4, none with all of us including my brother.

I have no heirlooms…I’m lucky enough to have 2 negatives from my dad’s parents wedding, it actually the only image I have of the grandfather I never met. I have zero images of my mom’s parents together, and only a couple photos I took of them as a kid to remind me of how they looked, but only as a grandparent, not even when they were married.

So as you can see I can barely tell you what my grandparents and parents looked like at my age, never mind what my great-grandparents looked like, in fact no one can tell me much about them at all…

~Why hand-written letters?~ 

This is the second element of these powerful portraits. There is nothing like not only seeing the joy, the love in a couple, especially if that couple is your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, but also seeing their written story.

However we all know there’s more to the story!I remember the day after my Grandma Mary died. Not necessarily a fond memory, but it did bring my own mother and I closer. As we went through my grandmother’s personal items I chose the most personal. Not jewelry, not antiques… no, I chose her nightgown with the scent of her still on it, her perfume bottle so I could remember that smell as long as the bottle lasted, and my mom and I both poured over anything with her handwriting on it. I still remember sitting in that back bedroom of my grandparent’s trailer. My mom and I sat on the bed they had shared staring at her open closet, looking at a piece of paper with her handwriting on it as my mom quietly whispered “mom’s writing…”.

There’s something completely powerful and unique about everyone’s handwriting. In fact it’s as unique as a fingerprint, no two people’s writing, no matter how alike, are exactly the same. That is why I think it’s an integral part of these portraits. Not only does it document a point in your life, but it furthers the story, the story of your love…

 

~Contact me to help you and your partner create a lasting heirloom piece that documents this chapter in your lives.~Mainly serving the Greenville/ Spartanburg, SC and Asheville/ Charlotte, NC metro areas (and surrounds), but available to travel.

email: info@emeraldrosephoto.com