Photographer of marriage & motherhood

I have a photo from when I was ten years old. It’s of me and my Dad. We’re in a boat that’s been pushed onto the shore; I’m holding a fishing rod, he’s holding a small fish in both hands. We’re looking at each other and laughing. Every time I look at the picture, I go back to that moment. It’s early morning during the summer at our small cottage on a lake in New Hampshire. We had just finished fishing and were packing up our rods, ready to return the boat back to it’s original spot on the beach after an unsuccessful morning. That’s when we notice a tug on one of our lines- there was a fish on my rod! Without even trying I had caught my first fish of the day. We just looked at each other and laughed.

To this day, I have no idea who snapped that photo. That boat is now worn and faded green. I watch my younger cousins sit in the same boat I did and patiently wait for a fish to bite. I don’t even like fishing and pretty sure I haven’t gone since that day. But that photo means so much to me.

It’s this image, and so many others that have been captured throughout the years, that made me want to be a photographer. Life passes us by so quickly, but for me, photography is a way to freeze time, to remember what once was.