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“Hold on, Kiddo, I gotta make sure everything is charged up in the studio for tomorrow’s session.”
She follows on my heels like a puppy.
“Will you take my picture?” She asks.
If there’s only one thing I can gift my kids, for them to pass down to future generations, it is this.
Time is precious, we’re all changing so quickly. The opportunity to mark this time is now.
My sister and her family were in the country for the first time in a year and a half. I had been aching to have this. Getting everyone in the studio simultaneously would have been a challenge. Instead, I booked everyone in slots over the course of two days. Each unit was able to select their favorite version of themselves, and then I combined them into one piece.
This also gave me the ability to create subset groupings, to gift for Chanukkah. (Not so much a surprise…)
I’m feeling how critical family is. This moment won’t live on, but this piece of artwork for my home will.
I call our yearly family self portrait the “annual insanity.” But I can’t use the term anymore, I’m afraid.
Our synagogue is asking everyone to submit family portraits for a mosaic project (which I’m so excited about!). I was editing portraits for two other families at that moment, and I realized I haven’t done ours since the beach two years ago! The shoemaker’s children have no shoes!
I add every year to our wall gallery - how did I skip a whole year??
Even more so, I realized we needed to update ours mere days before my daughter left for her first time at summer camp for a month, so with no time, I grabbed items from everyone’s closet, and hauled my tripod and lights to the front yard.
The top portrait will move to the stairs, and the new gallery wrap will take its place:
This is where I normally post a hilarious outtake. But there are none. Because my kids crushed it. So I guess I can’t call it “Annual” OR “Insanity” anymore!
(But I WILL do better! Every year or bust!)
Update! Galleries updated!
As I’m aging, I’m noticing the evolution of holidays. While my newsfeed was once only celebration for Mother’s/Father’s Day, it’s now mingled with pain. Those whom have lost their parent, those who long to be one. It makes me want to capture today that much more. The only thing that lasts will be these images, and I hope my children show them to their own one day.
My father, Left. My co-conspirator in parenting, Right.
Three generations of Linkwald men.
Hugging everyone tight today,
Rachel
My Mother
She asks me to take her portrait.
I ask if she loves it.
She says, “It’s not for me, it’s for you.”
I pretend I didn’t really hear it. Because I can’t really hear it.
Rubbing my back as I fall asleep in my childhood bedroom
Walls covered in the mural she commissioned that would spark stories
She listens. The greatest gift she gave me was that she made space for listening.
She was safe, and she taught me to listen to my own.
But I can’t hear her today.
When you are testing lighting for Thursday’s headshot clients requesting a specific look, and your sassy 8 year old test subject strikes a pose…
Lighting for this scenario is trickier than you would imagine. Want to learn more? See behind the scenes!
This year’s family session was a continuous metaphor for our times.
NEVER did I expect that this year’s family session would take place at the beach. But beauty emerged from the storm… literally.
When my husband and I had both been vaccinated, we were seeing little impact from Covid on children, and infection numbers were nonexistent, we took a leap and booked a theme waterpark/hotel for the last week of vacation before school. Because most schools were starting before ours, we assumed a light crowd.
Then the numbers skyrocketed, and we were seeing a tear of infections in our neighborhood in children. Including a hospitalization. I tried reaching our booking via email and received no response. I tried calling, and was passed from system to system. Finally, the Friday afternoon before we were scheduled to leave on Sunday morning, I reached a human, who reported they were booked to capacity, totally slammed.
I postponed the reservation.
The twist? We had already rented out our own home for while we were away! Determined to give my children a safer vacation, I jumped on Airbnb and booked a condo for Panama City Beach… for 36 hours later.
Fresh air, sand and salt.
We hauled my photography equipment, optimistic.
Then, the night we had planned to shoot, with best window of time for sunset being 7:00-7:30, the weather did this:
I made everyone just stand at the door and wait.
I said, either this means we're going to run for it, have 5 minutes to nail it, and the sunset will be SPECTACULAR... Or we will have absolutely nothing.
This entire vacation AND the result of this photoshoot, all of it, was about a leap in faith. Being spontaneous and wild and jumping into chaos, and hoping for beauty.
In the ocean, my children learned they could battle the waves or embrace them. They could get slapped in the face and choke on the salt, or they could put on their goggles, take a deep breath, and dive into them. Even moreso, they could submerge, and relax beneath the turbulence. The choice is ours.
What fun would it be without an outtake?
I plan to print as a gallery wrap for our living room.
Shayna Image recently took on assistance in the Social Media Marketing department (don’t they say ‘focus on your strengths’?) and they sent a photographer to my studio and grounds to do a session of me…doing a session. How meta is that?
I needed a family to be in the session. The answer to me was obvious. Lucy. Lucy and my husband work together.
She has a gorgeous family, with kiddos who I thought were up for the strange dynamic.
Her support of my business has been breathtaking. When a client books with me, they have the opportunity to name a referral source, who receives 15% off a session fee. Lucy has been named so many times, she’s on track to a free shoot.
Then I heard she hopes to gift the session to someone else.
It was a tricky evening. What I needed to do to get a great image of Lucy’s family was pretty much the OPPOSITE of what the other photographer, Franca, needed to get a great image of ME getting a photo of the family. If that sentence sounds confusing, it’s a taste of how the evening felt!
Nevertheless, her family crushed it, and we got a couple of lovely images to show from it all! These images were taken in the creek and on the paths behind the studio.
Much gratitude to Lucy and her beautiful family. And I look forward to you all seeing the forthcoming “Behind the Scenes at Shayna Image” pictures!
Let me introduce you to Corrie. And then, let me tell you why Corrie is a big deal for us.
I’ve only just begun to get to know her, but here’s what’s clear: she has passion and drive, but seeks balance and tempers her decisions by really checking in with herself. She’s energized by change and opportunity. She’s very talented, transitioning from Marketing at Turner Broadcasting into Real Estate. She’s got a couple spunky kiddos who tell her exactly what they think. She really understands people. She asked my husband to take a personality assessment- and told him spot on what he was before he revealed his results.
And here’s why all of this is so important to my family…
My husband and I are both small business owners. You already know what I do. My husband got into real estate, grew his business, took on Pam, an amazing partner, and then was hired by his brokerage to coach other Realtors. He now coaches 79 Realtors, and helps them explore their goals, desires, and actualize the steps necessary to grow and better serve their clients. He was recently able to hire Candace to assist with coaching!
The twist? While helping others launch and scale their businesses, Billy determined that his clients deserved more attention and a higher level of service. SO NOW THE FAMILY HOME GROUP HAS CORRIE AT THE HELM!! She is here to help the business explode: to provide top-notch service, and to execute the vision Billy has always had for his real estate team.
If you have ever started your own business, you understand the excitement, the nerves, the amazement, of seeing your baby to a place where you bring in leadership.
Corrie is the match we’ve been seeking. WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, CORRIE!
Setting up for John’s session, I decided it was time to update my own headshot.
Photographing yourself? Nervewracking. There’s no “me” on the other side of the table to tell me to relax, to coach my angles. Worse? Photoshopping yourself. Always a reminder that we look at others with kinder eyes.
But I think the outcome is pretty thoroughly me, and I’m good with that.
The background was originally grey, like in John's, but I decided to warm it up and go a bit more mono-chromatic.
Here’s a pull-back of the setup, plus my helper.
A couple of nights ago, we tiptoed down to the almost completed studio. I wanted to test lens length in the space, so asked kids to stand in. Didn't have a single light set up, no backdrop: just my new space, natural light in the evening in the rain. This is the result. Back of camera, as unedited as it comes.
The hardest times can be the most beautiful. We shut down with the world. It became apparent that every decision would be one of risk vs reward. A decision that we made, not without risk, has been richly rewarding beyond belief. We came to bond with our neighbors. We decided together to proceed as a bubble as cautiously as possible, and to socialize outdoors. These kids have come to see each other as family as much as friends.
Missing in action: Yaira, George, and Dovi. Special shout-out to Miriam Ahuva.
Outdoors is a hot bliss filled with squeals, swings, laughter, swinging, fighting, bleating sheep, zip lines, hiking through creek tunnels, scooters, felling trees and climbing them, too.
Discovery
We all hope to go back to the world. To see missed friends, restore balance, and to actually go into each other’s homes. But this time is equally precious and scary.
In the tumbling chaos, the confusion, the isolation, the anger…
A moment by stillness. Toes muddy and cool. Tranquility and exhalation.
I watch her grow into her gracefulness. She seems to have a wisdom about all of this that I desire. She beams still over inconsequential moments. She radiates contentment while I struggle.
Have you heard of the syndrome, “Photographer’s Child?” It’s murmured frequently in my profession. Because we love our built in test-subjects, and they too soon are “over it.” So I make a point to insist that they permit me to take our family portrait once a year, and try otherwise to leave them alone.
Ah-ha! Reverse psychology! Now, every time I have a client come, they beg me to take their picture, too.
So we tromped into the backyard. I had to coax her into the mud by the creek. Her dress originally was purple. Her shirt was a vibrant turquoise. My daughter asked if we could print it for her room. My son also wants a print of himself for his room, though he was satisfied with our last studio session:
Yes, Little Man is in his pajamas.
I am Corona Woman!
Hear me roar. Or cry. Or call out in gratitude. Or fear.
I wear all the hats and I want to cast them to the ground. Sometimes I do, and hide in the closet. Sometimes the hats stack nicely.
I am so proud of myself. And ashamed.
All these people are me.
I am Corona Woman. A self portrait dedicated to all those who are doing all the things all the time at the same time right now.
About the portrait: this is 6 separate images taken over the course of one morning in my dining room. I had one speedlight behind the camera and one bare-bulb strobe off right, both bouncing from the ceiling. I tethered my camera on a tripod to my computer, and set it to automatically take 15 shots of each story. I inched myself around the space so that I would have a variety of positions to assist with overlap. Then I spliced them together in Photoshop . I edited the now singular image with a heavy hand of dodge and burning to make it pop. Yes, my little one was actually fighting during the session (he rescinded his protest and requested to take part after he saw big sis was excited.) I desperately wanted to tidy, but didn’t permit myself to move a single item, so this is life during Covid-19 in all its glory.
Creating art requires a tremendous amount of control.
Something you totally lose when you decide to not only capture an image, but simultaneously jump to the other side of the camera, try to look good, and wrangle your kids. I admit it: every year, I struggle taking my own family portrait for our walls. And then every year, I say, I’m another year wiser, they are another year older, let’s give it a go!
This year, rather than going epic, like I enjoy doing for my clients, I said, let’s keep it really streamlined. Just us, in the new studio. Not my usual style, but a greater likelihood for less stress.
HAHHHAAAAAAHHAHAHAHA! It was a terrible experience! But we got this gem at the end:
Which works for me, since these were some of our other images:
Next year, I will once again say, “I’m another year wiser, they’re another year older, why not?”
LOLOLOL! (*cry)
We moved! One by one, we’re tearing through the boxes, putting things in their new spot, and figuring out what has yet to be found. Settling in. For me, what transitions my new house into my new home is putting the family art up on the walls. So while I have much more to go, tonight we decided to begin to make our mark on our space.
These are images printed on matte standout metals, and assembled from two different family sessions.
The perfect wall.
Centered and designed.
TA-DA!
Just a hundred pictures left to go!
Another step closer. The transformation is incredible.
On Thursday, my children dressed up for my daughter’s kindergarten graduation, and I had to whisk them outside to capture the occasion. Before I had children, I would sometimes see images from friends’ preschool graduation ceremonies, and scoff, “That’s not a REAL graduation.” I had no idea the tremendous emotions that would accompany each milestone.
Chaya Mushka Children’s House took in my toddlers starting 5 years ago, and have provided a home of love, guidance, structure, and inspiration. They recognized the individualized strengths in each, and paved and beautifully individualized path. My family is heading in a new direction, and while they will not be by my side, they will be at the core of who we are. http://chayamushka.org/preschool/
I watched my daughter cross the stage with poise and confidence, reflecting on when I wore her as a baby only a blink ago, and trying desperately to look “fine.”
Hi! Have we met yet? Even though I'm frequently called "Shayna," it's actually my daughter's middle name. I'm Rachel! I'm a native of the Atlanta area, where I currently live with my husband, daughter, and son. I'm a rollercoaster junkie, sushi addict, advanced scuba diver, and list maker.
That thing you think photographers do? Nope, I'm doing something different.
Receiving a bunch of digitals? That's like paying a baker, and having them hand you the ingredients and telling you to "finish it yourself."
I put custom finished art on your walls. Because your grandchildren aren't going to dig through your dropbox for the moments that matter.
Follow me as I share adventures, new works, educational info, and some personal entertainment.