Have you ever looked at a picture of yourself and thought "Is that really me?" because it just doesn't represent the way you see yourself? It happens to me all the time.
Five years ago, when Ella was Lucy's age, Tara Whitney took our family photos. I'm continually amazed at Tara's ability to truly see people and relationships with her camera. It's why her work draws so many people in, and also why she can never really be duplicated. So when she mentioned she was coming to New York City for Thanksgiving, I knew I had to have her document us again five years and two new little people later.
The weather in the days leading up to Thanksgiving was not optimal. Tara and I had to move dates around, push the time up, and even so we just barely missed a downpour that started almost exactly as our session was ending. It was chilly and windy with a smattering of raindrops here and there, and a certain one-year-old had better things to be doing (but what one-year-old doesn't?). But we just went with the flow, had fun despite the weather, and Tara managed to capture this:
Of course, there were cupcakes involved.
And a taxi cab. You may know that Ella has a thing for cars, and for taxis in particular. So towards the end of our session, we approached a taxi driver and asked if we could borrow his cab for just a minute. I was surprised at how happy he was to oblige. I love running across people like this in New York.
After we said goodbye to Tara and as we warmed ourselves with some Hale & Hearty soup in Chelsea Market, Ella casually said, "So your friend Tara... is she a photographer?" It was adorable. I love that she didn't even think of this as a photo session.
Tara says, "My purpose is to show you what your love looks like, and how the world sees you – and have fun doing it." And she did exactly that. Thank you Tara for truly capturing "us"... again (more here and here).
