I recently had a family in my studio but not for family portraits. Karoline brought her sister Charlotte and her mother Esther in for her session. She also brought her friend Melissa. I didn’t arrange for permission to post Melissa’s images, so I won’t be showing those. This family made a strong impression on me. They’re all thinkers and achievers. They’re socially adept and outgoing, they each have their own strong character, and, what interests me the most, they are all kind, caring and interested in others.
They also let me experiment on them as my guinea pigs when I wanted to attempt a simple, casual meal with clients half-way through our session.
Karoline was leaving for Jr. national training camp in BC for 3 weeks after our session. She’s taken up serious rowing as a high school career. She also plays cello. and flute. …. and she still has the energy to be in laughing high spirits, a contagious condition around her.
Esther was teaching at Brock University when I was studying psychology there!
I was compelled to discreetly ask Esther if there was a secret to her obvious success with her daughters.
God, home schooling and early self-responsibility.
There’s her simple, short and sweet version of it. I know, behind that short sentence lies years of great effort, skull sweat, patience and love. Excellence at anything takes a large and ongoing effort. God. Home schooling. Significant early effort, significant freedom to make choices. The person Karoline has become is mainly to Karoline’s credit. The person Charlotte has become is primarily Charlotte’s doing. They made it this far with someone great behind them.
I admire what you’ve done Esther. You’re one of the great moms.
Thanks for a fun day you guys! I’ll have a post very soon featuring Charlotte.
The video of Karoline’s session: