A Passion Project  

What is a passion project?  A passion project is something a person does to feed their artistic soul.  It is something that they love and believe in.  It is where they can exercise the combination of their love for something, and their creativity in the art form that they do. 

I love photographing seniors.  I am not talking about high school seniors (although I love to photograph them too!)  I'm talking about SENIORS... who are young at heart... elderly seniors.  The love of photographing older adults has led me to start this passion project. Older adults (70+) is an age that we don't often photograph. There are many reasons seniors don't like portraits of themselves.  Perhaps they are missing a spouse and feel the portrait is lacking that special someone.  Maybe they don't like the look of their aging features.  Let me tell you, I think those aging features are beautiful.  They are a badge of honor depicting a long life with many stories behind that life.  I want to tell their story.  

Both of my parents are already in heaven.  One thing I realized after their passing, is that we didn't have many portraits of them.  My mom passed first, and the pictures of her are very few after the kids were grown.  We tried to take more pictures of my dad because of that, but these were just snapshots.  Not a beautiful portrait.  I wish I had a beautiful portrait of my parents in their later years.  I wish I had a portrait that told something about them... about their story.  

The Story...

I want to create a storytelling image of each senior I photograph.  What do you you like to do?  (Or what did you like to do?) Do you like to knit? Garden? Read? Fish or Hunt? Do you like to ride motorcycles? Is faith important to you?  Do you like to be fashionable? I want to create a portrait that incorporates that story into your portrait.  What ever your story is, let's tell it.  

I asked Carolyn to come into the studio to start off my passion project so I would have some samples to share. After talking with Carolyn's family, it was her faith and love of angels that we decided was her story.  She brought in her "small" angels from her collection to use in her portrait, as well as her rosary.  Here is a sample of what we created for Carolyn.  

Carolyn was a little apprehensive about having her portrait taken.  She was like many others who were worried about her aging body, and wasn't sure how it would look in a photograph. (She is 89!) But, she knew she wanted to participate.  Carolyn treated herself by getting her make up done for the session.  She had so much fun getting her make up done and telling the make up artist what she was doing, and also having her portrait taken that she forgot about being apprehensive!  Carolyn's daughter and grand daughter came along with her.  They laughed with us and encouraged her, and took her out for dinner afterwards.  It was a fun bonding time for these women, a memory they will always carry.  

So, here is the start of my passion project.  I am looking for other Seniors (70+) to photograph.  This is coming out of a desire to create something for the family, and a desire to create the art that my soul loves. If you are chosen for this project, there is no charge for this session.  Here are the details:

• Participants must be 70 years or older
• Participants (and/or family members) will need to be able to climb a flight of stairs to get to my studio.  (I am on the second floor and do not have an elevator.)
• Participants (and/or family members) will have a consultation meeting (over zoom or telephone) to discuss the vision of the story telling portrait and what kind of clothing to wear for it
• Participants will need to sign a release that allows me to share and use their pictures on my website/blog/social media, etc.  
• Participants will receive 2 printed portraits at no charge.  One will be a beautiful headshot, and one will be a storytelling image.

Just a note here to scroll to the bottom if you would like to apply for this project!

Here are some other samples of storytelling images that I have done over the years: