i met some of the sweetest families this weekend.
i just feel so lucky right now…im emotional. im always a sap, but today im sooooo sappy!
after my shoot i didnt want to leave the family i had gotten to know in two hours. i wanted to squeeze them. i just felt so much love. coming from them. and for them.
there is something so incredible about getting in deep with a family. i have so much passion about this subject that i get goosebumps whenever i talk about it. the dynamic is special and unique in every single one. and when you are in it, you dont always see it. but as an outsider, i see it every single time. the touches, the looks, the words used. inside jokes. laughs. tickles. “mom” and “dad” stern glances. kids testing the waters. in it all, there is just so much LOVE.
every shoot, i am surrounded in love. and that just makes me want to cry. haha
i always said i could never live without true love in my life. and not only do i have that with my husband and my own crazy little family, i get to experience it every single time i head out to meet a new group of people to photograph.
it absolutely boggles my mind to think of how i got to this place. that people trust me so completely to let me in like they do and to truly SEE them. to have the chance to do it. i cant say it enough-i am lucky. there is no doubt about it. i am LUCKY.
i cant say this enough either: thank you so much for letting me do something i love, and crave, so deeply.
THANK YOU!!!
Love that you are so passionate about what you do… it shines through. : )
-kelly
Really like your entry today, Tara. I am not a profesional photographer, but I can relate to what you are saying, about the emotion you experience when posed behind the lens of the camera.
Thanks you for sharing — you are indeed blessed :)
— kimB
you made my sunday night…nice to know there are other saps out there. you do good tara!
L
Tara – I always love reading your blog. You definitely shoot with your heart…and I love that about you…which is probly why I love your work so much. I do hope to meet you someday! :)
That’s remarkable Tara. I can understand a bit of what you’re saying about photographing other people’s families, because I feel that about my own…the times I “capture” my kids and my husband transcend any way of expressing love I can think of, to me at least. That’s why I LOVE photography. Have you decided yet about where or if you’re gonna travel next year? I ask because I had yet ANOTHER bad experience with a photographer doing pics of our family recently. He promised candid shots of us doing our thing. He did get a few good shots, but honestly I think it was luck. Out of more than 200 pictures, he got NONE of me and my girls!!!! The whole reason I hired him was to get shots of me with them because I have hardly any and I take hundreds of photos a week sometimes. I told him I wanted pics like what you do…which pissed him off I believe for telling him what I thought his ART should be. Whatever, I just want a photographer who can get out of their own head enough to see us as we are, like you do, and capture it. It’s SOOOO hard to find photographers who really care about that aspect of taking photos…not the artsy side or the technical side. THE HUMAN SIDE is what I want. You do that so marvelously. I’d hire you…keep you on retainer…if you were near us, lol. If you ever even remotely come near Nashville, TN…you call me up and let me know, cuz I’ll drop what I’m doing, grab my girls and head your way, lol. I know how much your clients appreciate your feelings about your craft…since I so desperately want to find someone to be able to do what you do myself. I have…too bad she’s on the other side of the country!
Tara I fully get what you’re saying…it’s very hard to articulate to those who aren’t on our side of the lens..I get so much absolute sheer joy at giving people the gift of still images – little captures of their lives, relationships, emotions.
What a joy!
Too cool! Everyone that gets to work with YOU is lucky my dear! You are an amazing photographer and wonderful woman Tara. So happy you are following your passion and finding such joy in it.
You sound like such a beautiful person! It’s no wonder people let you in and feel comfortable just being themselves. I totally wish you lived in Massachusetts. It would be an honor to have you document a couple hours of our lives!
Wow…what you wrote is so awesome. It gave me a warm fuzzy.
I hope you can make it back to Boston some time in 2007. I would really LOVE for you to photograph my husband, daughter and I. That would make my year. :)
The thoughts you’ve expressed just show why people feel such trust and love for you, Tara. You are truly a credit to the profession and if you’re EVER within a hundred miles of Detroit, I’d be honoed to have you photograph my family.
Tara.. you are so awesome.. kind and giving.. I love that about you .. I read your blog faithfully.. I dont know if you ever stop by mine and I dont care.. I just find you to be so inspiring and the kind of person well I would want as a friend. You have a huge heart and it shows in all that you do and all that you write thats hard to do.. hard to show your real self and you do it with grace dignity and humor.. YOU ROCK
what a blessing tara! and you have such a gift too, i’m so happy that you get to do something that you love. =) sappy girls of the world unite!
i would say you are truly blessed. not only with talent, but with the fact that these families let you into their lives and homes and families. it’s really fun isn’t it?! i miss it somedays LOL!
i miss seeing photos of your little ones!
tara
I can totaly see this in you because that’s what I felt from you at our shoot! You are a wonderful photographer and your quiet gentle spirit brings out the best in people. love me some tara w.!
luv,
tara k.
Tara – I totally ‘get’ what you’re saying! I’m thankful that I can ‘see’ this too. That’s God’s blessing to you for being able to capture and share what he blesses others with. Your not a lucky girl – your a blessed one! ;)
sap=that is why you are so good at what you do…
you photograph these people as a mother would photgraph her own children. with that same desire and need to see them as they are,in the moment. pretty cool, this gift you have.
After that, I cannot wait to see your pictures from that shoot. Hope you share soon. It is so great to love what you do and you do something so wonderful in capturing the love in these families… it oozes out of your photos. Love them!!
It is awesome to have a job that fills you up in that way. I feel that way about mine, too. I work with kids birth to three with disabilities (early intervention). I do home visits and spend quite a bit of time in these kids’ homes working with their parents to help them. I get those peeks into my families’ lives, too – just in a different way. :) It’s great, isn’t it?
It’s been such fun following you the past couple of years and watching you evolve as an artist and photographer. I do miss the personal side of your earlier blog, about balancing motherhood and stealing time for creative persuits. Tell me, how do arrange care for your 4 kids when your work schedule varies so much? Does your husband always cover, or do you hire teenage helpers? So curious as to how you manage to do it all… please share that side of the story, as I’m sure you have a creative solution there!
And from a family who has met you – we’re lucky too! To have found someone as real and genuine as yourself to capture our family’s memories. I knew you were the real deal the moment I met you. The thoughtful, helpful emails that followed just reinforced how special of a person you are (I am still touched by that first email you sent after we met.) Thank you for doing what you do, it goes beyond the photos you take.
Tara – i cry when I see the family look at the pictures I have taken of them and they are crying because they are happy. That feeling is better than winning.
Today I did one of my best shoots ever. I got my inspiration from you last year and you are the very reason why I love to take photos. I feed off your emotional photography via your blog entries and your zestful enthusiasm.
Today Im a very happy person. A tired, crabby(cried a lot) but very happy person xx