I was raised by a large Greek family in the Midwest. Like most large Greek families, we did just about everything together. Any ordinary day was enough of an excuse to get together, share stories, and of course, eat. Everyone in my family took snapshots and I was always captivated by the concept of recording history in this way. By pressing the shutter, I could later relive whatever was most poignant to me at the time; an emotion, the weather, or a smell in the room.
When I was ten years of age, my mother passed away after a long illness. In the wake of her death, my interest in photography grew. I found a cardboard box in our basement containing piles of old black and white photographs. These were proof of grandparents and great-grandparents, relatives in Greece whom I had never met, and my mother’s life. I can remember rummaging through the musty box in search of answers as to who she really was. I had fallen in love. It was around this time that I received my first camera from my mother’s sister, my Aunt Catherine. Looking back on this chain of events, I can hardly believe the timing. I guess the rest is history…
August 8, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hi JoAnn,
Katie Brannan forwarded your blog to me along with the excitement of you capturing Ann O’s wedding day this weekend!
Enjoy the day, surround Ann in warm fuzzies and I look forward to seeing the photos!
Take care,
Angie (Dunn) Beier