Call Me Sentimental

Anyone close to me knows I’m obsessed with all things vintage.  I can’t help but feel that a little aging adds more charm.  I collect antique furniture, retro picture books, games, puzzles, and toys.  During the holiday season Christmas tunes from the 1950s pipe through my home from the record player, and of course I’m the first to snatch up old family photographs.

In the same way, I’m completely sentimental about items from my past. The problem with my type of personality is that it doesn’t mesh with parents who like to get rid of things, so I was the kid rescuing stuffed animals from garbage bags and sneaking them back into the house.  Although I wouldn’t classify myself as a pack rat, I do see value in things others might not.  Like the frosty ornament with the worn off face that my mom wanted to throw away when I was little. Frosty lived in hiding in my underwear drawer for ten years and now adorns the most beloved spot on my Christmas tree, front and center.  I drew his eyes back on with a marker.

Unfortunately, the purging tendencies only grow worse once parents have an empty nest.  “Mom, I’d like to take that gingham apron you wore the entirety of my childhood that’s been in this drawer for 20 years. Where is it?”  I love when they play dumb like they just don’t know where things went off to.  I am a day late and a dollar short on every item in question.  The best was when I called home to see if I could take the old wooden dog house for a shoot.  My mom proudly recounted to me how she’d single-handedly chopped it up and burned it just three days prior.  Burned it, people.  I envisioned my mother chopping frantically with the axe thinking,  she’ll never rescue it out of a garbage bag now!!  (insert maniacal laugh).

I realized I’d better start snatching up anything with sentimental value before it all disappeared, or was chopped, burned or otherwise annihilated from the planet.  For now we have a standing rule that they can’t get rid of anything older than ten years without my permission.  I even asked for a heads up before they decided to get rid of their land line.  I mean, seriously.  Every best friend and boyfriend I ever had called me at that phone number during my adolescence. A girl has got to have some forewarning on these kinds of life changes.

I think it’s so cool how as photographers and artists our personalities shape our creations.  My love of vintage and childhood whimsy finds its way into almost every shoot somehow.  Some of you might recognize these little girls.  Feels like I’ve been photographing them for eons.  Their session images always end up as some of my favorite portfolio shots.  I loved doing this vintage tennis theme for them, especially seeing as they all play tennis in some capacity.  The amazing clothes are from Fleur and Dot.