‘Lil Wolfe Big City
WOLFE TURNS TWO :)
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WOLFE TURNS TWO :) --
Dear Diary,
Wolfe turns TWO!!! It’s a grey and cloudy day that has been on my calendar for over a month. It’s not his actual birthday but Veronica is starting to travel doing hair in New York again. We are very familiar with each other's travel/work lives and spent many years coordinating our schedules to do elaborate shoots and even more elaborate hair. A friendship that started with trade, photos for hair, has settled nicely into a well rounded relationship that touches all parts of our lives. It’s even more special now that we have sons almost exactly a year apart. I send bags of hand me downs and she sends birthday cards for clothes she knows she will eventually receive. We share jokes and complaints about the ups and downs of motherhood and especially being “car moms”. Our sons aren’t growing up together but they aren’t growing up apart either. A desire for friendship, hair and photos keeps us tightly grounded in regular visits. This one feels quicker than most and the weather is not on my side. I had planned a shoot with bright blue skies and white fluffy clouds, bright flash and even brighter smiles. I knew we had to work around Wolfe's travel nap and was even able to borrow a pack n play from a neighbor. Wolfe and his nanny spent the day with me while his mom went off to do a house call. Obviously not all shoots come with nap time pack and plays but this is friendship. This is community. We are working moms doing our best to keep both sides of our lives afloat. And…to be good moms. Woof… it's hard to juggle especially with the deep passion for our previous careers and desires to be full well rounded people not just moms and not just… whatever that other part is called. So I offer my home. I offer flexibility. I offer friendship. But friendship quickly leads to chatty-ship.. and we're running late and the clouds haven’t broken and the sky is just a dull white. As we walk to our location with a suitcase full of lighting tricks we find a big group of pigeons feasting on rice from the halal cart. Wolfe is mesmerized. With his two bright yellow taxi cabs in his balled up fists he's fully enchanted. I see this California boy experiencing a standard New York moment. They are my son's taxi cabs, a collection from the tables with rows and rows of “banana cars” in our neighborhood. I have seen my son chase these same Pigeons with the exact same gleeful expression. I love this moment. I take a mental picture for myself.
We take out the flash and start clicking away but then I shift. I want more access to his movements. I want him to be in motion and “fly be free” as Savannah my assistant calls it. So we take off the flash. I change my settings and start burst shooting my tiny friend as we head to the highline. I know my mission is part adorable face but also equally to create a mood, a memory of time and space with images that aren’t his face. Social media is a weird place and my friend Veronica has a large platform. In many ways Veronica has been a muse to my portrait work, always encouraging and always saying yes. Even the request for images without his face challenges me in the best way. In less than an hour we keep Wolfe entertained, get our steps in, catch up, and create images that someday will be looked at again with a much deeper meaning than they hold today. It ended up being the perfect sky, perfect nap, and perfect day to capture their New York adventures and I know from experience we will be doing it all over again very soon.
