Your story started before you. My grandmother Dorothy was born in 1937, the first of nine children born to JD and Gertrude Johnson. They lived in the small West Texas town of Dougherty, where the colored school closed during cotton season so the colored children could work in the fields. My great-grandmother, Gertrude, wanted a […]
My mom. Probably about 6-7 years old, in the 1940s. She passed away last year from Alzheimer’s. My grandfather took this photograph, and hundreds more. He was an avid amateur photographer. I’ve inherited boxes and boxes of medium format photographs, Kodachromes, 16mm movies, 8mm movies, and hundreds of prints chronicling my mother’s life and the […]
Before heading out to photograph a wedding last weekend, I held my grandparents’ wedding slides up to a window and marveled at images I had never before seen. I was inspired by the wonderful imperfection of them all. There is something about two farm kids dressed in their best, grinning like children as they leave […]
As time passes by and you look at portraits, the people come back to you like a silent echo. A photograph is a vestige of a face, a face in transit. –Henri Cartier-Bresson This is my favorite picture of me and my mom. I experienced a freak accident at six months old and my mom […]
Every family has some. They may be dusty or damaged by water; they may look worn or well-loved. They’re diamonds in the rough! Whether you’ve got two or two dozen, there’s nothing quite as alluring as old family photos that need some serious TLC. It’s like discovering an antique that needs some sanding, polishing and refinishing to look […]
Nostalgia never goes out of style. In fact, it’s so powerful that many psychologists believe it actually adds happiness to our lives. And everyone knows that vintage photos deliver potent doses of nostalgia. Old photos are like little time machines; they transport us to a beautiful place called memory. When we crack open our dusty family albums, […]
Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt. – Susan Sontag My father’s parents. I only knew Kay, but from all accounts, Harlan was a disciplined, hard-working, loving, family man. Recently, my father’s side of the family has been on a tear, sharing photos like this one […]
This portrait is so important to me and my family. My aunt restored it from the original negative. It was taken in 1970, when my family still lived in Cambodia. This reminds us of life in Cambodia before my grandmother fled to America with her children, seeking a new life and an escape from war. […]
This is a portrait of my great, great uncle, taken in Paris during World War I. Incredibly, the photo studio is still in business and I am traveling there to have my portrait made in the exact location. Recreating a 100-year old portrait of my great, great uncle will undoubtedly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But […]
My mom in 1955 with me and my sister. She was a true Texas girl. Born in 1931 during the Great Depression, she reached her teen years during WWII. She was well-acquainted with doing without. But here, in the mid-1950s, she must have felt she was blessed with everything: a new family, a man she […]
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