Passing the Tradition Portrait Session

The Passing the Tradition Portrait Session started when my mom handed me a pile of old photos she wanted me to have.  There I was, in a pink snow suit on a sled, hugging Goofy as Disneyland, and smiling in my yellow and red plastic pink car in the basement.  I had to see more, so with my mom, we started to dig into our family albums.

We went through page after page of silly outfits, poofy bangs, and oversized glasses from the 80’s, I saw my whole life through high school before me.  The final photo in the last of the albums was the most recent, my grandmother, mother, grandfather, great aunt and I standing together in my green and yellow cap and gown at my high school graduation.  This photo now lives in a red frame by my bed because it is the last photo I have of this generation in sound mind and body, but also, the only generational shot of my mother, grandmother and I.

This shocked me.  I spent so much time with my mother and grandmother cooking sauce, making Pizzelles, decorating Christmas ornaments, planting gardens, and playing our favorite board game, Wahoo.  Why didn’t I have any photos to commemorate the weekends I spent there over the last 15 years?  Nonnie passed away before my wedding, so those moments were our last chance to have all three of us together in a photo.

 Cultural or not, our mother’s have passed on their traditions to us, and now it is our turn to pass it onto our children.  If we don’t pass these recipes, traditions, and crafts on, they die with that generation.   As easy as it can be to teach these traditions, it would be more meaningful to document these traditions with more than just a recipe or ornament.

The Passing the Tradition Portrait Session is meant for those who want to honor their family traditions by having them documented.  This can be any traditional recipe but can also to extend to generations making a craft, holiday cookies, decorating their tree, wearing clothing from their culture, or even just doing something your family loves to do together.

The holiday season is filled with family traditions.  Even the simple things like making Nana’s pancakes on a Sunday morning can be a great story for this type of session.

Lisa has been making her mother Mary’s pancakes for years.  Her daughter Hanna inhales them, and I’m sure her youngest, Mary, will do the same.  We took these photos in their kitchen.  It was simple and required no posing at all.  It was real, genuine, and smelled oh so good.  These photos are now treasured by her Mother and will be passed down to Lisa’s daughters. 

Don’t those pancakes look so delicious?!  If you are interested in your own Passing the Traditions session, reach out to me below.  It can be as simple as pancakes or extend to stomping through the snow at to pick out the perfect tree then bringing it home and decorating it.  Everything from digital images to small albums are available so you can pass on these traditions to those you love.

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