The sweet memory of the sound of our loved one's voice.
My uncle Bryan and Aunt Karen still have a landline phone. In fact, they still have a 1980’s analog answering machine hooked up to it. Even more, they still have my cousin Travis’ sweet pre-puberty voice greeting callers. Travis is a 24-year-old young man today. His deep baritone adult voice conceals any would-be leftover residue of his yesteryear squeals. Oh how valuable that answering machine tape recording must be to my Aunt and Uncle.
As his parents have watched him age, Travis will also watch mom and dad age. He too will someday treasure the sound and memory of his parents’ voice.
I didn’t have to tell this story to the Dawson’s to get them excited about creating a Living Story. They contacted me with the desire to have an audio and portrait story made for them. Mrs Dawson’s daughter Bridgette reached out to me after seeing some of my Living Stories. She expressed that their mom at age 93 has early signs of dementia but is still otherwise healthy and physically active. Bridgette expressed that she and her siblings would like a photo session highlighting their mom. But they didn’t just want photographs captured; they wanted to capture and preserve the sound of their mom’s voice as well.
Of course, I was happy to travel to Flint, Michigan for this creative session! Living Stories is the foundation of Picturing Art – capturing and framing the art of storytelling. Bottom line, this is my ministry. It’s as personal to me as it is to my clients.
What a wonderful heartfelt way to celebrate their mom. During the session, we captured both the sound of mom's and her children's voices as they all spoke of their love for one another. The grandchildren's words make a special cameo appearance in the video also. Link: Living Story Video
Play Living Story video below:
One of the brother’s was not able to be there, so I photoshopped him into video and also the master family portrait.
Note: Flint is my hometown, so the backdrop for the photo session was sentimental for me. Flint often gets noticed only for the negative such as the recent water crisis. But there is much positive to be told such as the love, community and yes beauty to be found in Flint. The photo session was held in the luxurious gardens on the Applewood Estate. The session was held in August, in my opinion, the best summer month of Michigan.
See for yourself the beauty as revealed in these photographs. The estate is maintained by the Ruth Mott Foundation. Read more about it here: Applewood Estate Website
Now this is wall art.
Who needs Picasso when you have family!
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