The Road Hardly Traveled: How I Became A Family Photographer

No Mom With A Camera For Me

It’s rare these days that a family photographer, especially a Mommy and Me photographer, does not have her own kids. But I came to appreciate motherhood, children and all the sacrifices and turmoil that goes with it as a teacher. A special education teacher. And more, a special education teacher in the inner cities of Los Angeles.

I’ll be honest. I did NOT dream of being a teacher as a kid. In fact, my aspirations were far, far afield. I wanted to be…..wait for it….a baraoque cellist. Yep. you read that correctly. As a tween, I thought the years 1600 to 1750 or so were the greatest that had ever happened. With supportive and tolerant parents, I was escorted to record stores in Pasadena CA where they purchased for me every relevant Deutsche Grammophon recording I could carry. I discovered the harpsichord, The Brandenburg Concertos and counterpoint. I was in heaven.

From Music Conservatory to Inner City Classroom

I spent the next 10 years studying with the former first cellist under Toscanini when Toscanini led the NBC studio orchestra. Cesare Pascarella was my cello instructor from my tweens all the way through my stint at Cal Arts. He lived in the acclaimed Hollywood Hills in a house from times past. It was filled with all kinds of amazing Italian renaissance art. Since I spent so much time here, there is no doubt I was exposed to elements that would (decades later) influence my Mommy and Me Portraiture.

What happened to my dream you ask? The competition happened and I got my arse kicked. That’s what. I studied hard and I became an adequate cellist. You know, good enough to do garden wedding music, women’s clubs luncheons, stuff like that. The brutal reality was that “accomplished” was not enough in the competitive world of Baroque Cello Performance. You had to be exceptional. I wasn’t. (Fade to black).

I’ll be honest again and tell you that most teachers in LAUSD who I met did not dream of being a teacher either. Teaching served as this huge safety net; something that people who had lost out on a dream came to really appreciate. Teaching is the paragon of “Plan B” careers.

Universal Motherhood

When I announced to my family that I would be teaching special education in some of the toughest schools in the country, it was not popular. My liberal and tolerant semi -Hippie parents were not keen on their daughter trudging to and working in the bowels of inner city Los Angeles schools. It seems Tolerance has a precipice and I had reached my parents’ limits. “Those moms down there don’t care”, my family bellowed. “You’re wasting your time”.

I ended up spending a lot of years teaching. 18 to be exact. And in that time, I saw many social problems, inequities and political red tape. In the early 2000s, LAUSD had over 144 languages represented amongst their students. Diversity was the name of the game. I came upon and saw traditions and belief systems that jarred my own ethical threshold and caused me to re evaluate. I saw every form of parenting imaginable; every reaction to frustration and concern, every strategy a mom could think of to help her child learn and develop.

What I learned is that on the whole, Motherhood is tough for every mom out there. She sacrifices, tries and fails sometimes, adapts and keeps going. I learned that Love, capital L has an expanded meaning within Motherhood. Mom is the main guide for kids, she is the one they call for, the one who soothes and counsels. As a teacher watching this, I was reminded of the elaborate Baroque melodies I admired in my youth. I saw Motherhood as an apt metaphor for these musical conversations about Love. “Maybe”, I thought, “Maybe, there is something here to investigate artistically”. (Camera Enters Stage Right)

Are you interested in having Mommy and Me Portraits made of you and your kids?