“If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” —RuPaul
For the month of May, my model was my lovely momma. We decided to include her best friend, Olive, in the photo shoot and I’m so glad we did. My mom is a lover of animals, loyal to those who are kind to her children, and a bit silly. She knows how to make me laugh, is always there when I need someone to listen to me, and loves me more than anyone else on Earth. I credit my mom with giving me my resilience, a childhood filled with animals, and being my number one fan.
My mom lives in Washington now where she and her dog can take daily hikes in the woods, her favorite thing to do. While she was here for my daughter’s graduation, I had to get her in the woods for some photos. This little spot filled with oak trees and a few wild flowers was perfect. This shoot included way too many burrs in our clothes, a tiny bit of rain, and a lot of giggles.
Thanks mom for being a light in this dark world. I love you more than you’ll ever know.
What makes you proud?
My kids and grandchildren make me very proud!
What makes you feel brave?
When I’m out walking in the woods with my beloved dog Olive.
What gives you hope?
Looking into the eyes of my granddaughter and grandson. I hope for greatness for them both.
I’ve got over twenty photo shoots under my belt now and I’m starting to find my stride. I’m currently on a trip to Vegas with my daughter and her best friend, and leaning into a more documentary style. I’m experimenting with leaving the images a bit grainy, editing less, and exploring more with composition. I’ll be curious to see what others think of those images when I post them, and what you think of these. I also did very minimal editing on these, and I think I’m starting to find a sort of style I like. Let me know what you think, and check out the others in this series if you missed them.
Thought you might enjoy some extra photos of Olive. I’m particularly proud of the first shot as you can see the trees reflected in her eyes.
- These were taken with my Olympus E-M1 MarkII, using a 14-150mm lens and edited with Lightroom Classic.
Beautiful
Thank you so much!
Beautiful photos, Bridgette! I can tell I’d like your mum. That’s a lovely Standard Poodle!! 🥰
My mom is pretty amazing! Yeah, Olive is such a great dog. She’s so smart!
Your mom is a peach! And Olive is her perfect match. Standard poodles are such smart, personable dogs, the ones I’ve known I think were part human (in a good way, the dog part negates all the crummy human traits). I also love the black colors and your mom’s green shawl against the cool greens of the woods. Hope you enjoy Vegas! Not my favorite city but I can see where it’s a great opportunity for photography.
You are so right, she totally seems part human! She’s such a smart dog and seems to really listen when you talk to her. My mom always has a dog, but this one is extra special to her. My beautiful sister-in-law made that shawl! She’s incredibly talented.
Yeah, I wouldn’t come to Vegas just for fun, but I’m house sitting for a friend. I brought my daughter and her best friend who both just graduated high school, and they are having a blast.
Beautiful photos of your mom and her dog Olive. I had an Olive cat who passed away last year.
Sorry for the loss of your Olive, and thank you. It was fun to have them both as my models.
I took one look at the header shot and said, “This is going to be a good shoot!” [OK, now I’ve looked at the rest.] I was right. First, your mom took a confident, relaxed approach to the shoot. Some of your other subjects just never seemed to relax. (Hmmm, how does one capture nervousness in a photo?) Second, you seemed to be more relaxed as the photographer, snapping more candids which relate to the overall feeling of the shoot. Really nice. My fave is #7 because I think it achieves what you set out to do: take a formal ‘photo shoot’ approach to taking shots. It’s not a candid. Your mother has relaxed (is relaxed?) and just does what the photographer requested, I’m assuming. A beautiful, honest photo is the result.
Thank you! Yes, I do think this was my best one by far. My mom isn’t self conscious anymore being almost 70 and I think it shows in the way she moves. Also, she trusts me. I won’t always have that with every shoot though and I need to learn how to get all my subjects to relax with me.
I was thinking about that yesterday and I have some ideas. This is why I’m taking a year to figure it out before attempting to launch a business. I absolutely see the difference you noticed.
Dear Bridgette,
Love, love, love everything you’re sharing.
Please keep the incredible photos & writing coming.
Thank you for your vision💜💛💚🩷💙
That’s incredibly kind of you to say! Thank you so much. I appreciate it so much.