Grandparents are special. It’s that simple. At least for me. I lived with my grandparents, Anna (nanny) and Anthony (Pop Pop) until I was 13. My mom was a single mom and had to work full time but I was lucky because we lived with Nanny and Pop. I had breakfast with Pop every day. He always got my bowl for cereal down for me and poured the milk. Nanny walked me to school everyday and Pop usually picked me up. They helped with homework and I watched as Nanny cooked dinner. She always let me eat the end of the cucumbers. Holidays were my favorite time with them. The house always smelled amazing whether easter pies or Christmas Eve feast of the 7 fishes were cooking.
I adored them, the helped raise me. Nanny and I walked everywhere together, -the pork store, the butcher, the bakery, the drug store, the grocery store and church.
We lived in Brooklyn, that’s what you did! You never moved the car unless absolutely necessary or unless it was alternate side of the street parking day for street cleaning.
We had Sunday dinner every week - no questions asked. It was Sunday and you were there for dinner or Nanny was pissed off. The truth is - you didn’t want to miss dinner anyway because it was usually raviolis from Pastosa’s.
Anna and Anthony
My daughter is named for her beautiful great grandmother. It still gets to me sometimes when I look at my Anna knowing I honored my grandmother by giving her name to my baby!
I could write a book about how much they meant to me and what they did for me but this blog isn’t really about my grandparents... It’s about JD and Tara’s Nami and Poppy.
My friend/client Monica called at Christmas time to buy a gift certificate for a portrait session for her children to give to their grandparents. The session was for the kids and their grandparents..... (Now you are tugging on my heart strings)
The day of the session came around and I already knew it would be emotional for me. I have a few snap shots with my grandparents growing up but we never had a portrait together. I knew that day JD and Tara would have no idea how special this was going to be until many years from now. I probably said it to them.... “you won’t appreciate this until you are much older.... You just wait!”
Maria and Don are awesome.... I fell in love with them immediately... I usually do when I meet east coast grandparents.
It was obvious how close they were, how much they loved each other. They had so much fun together. We spent an hour laughing together.
It was obvious how close they were, how much they loved each other. They had so much fun together. We spent an hour laughing together.
I absolutely loved photographing this session. I can remember having to hold back my emotions a few times.
It wasn’t until I sat down to edit the images that I actually cried. I have always known that I don’t create images for today. I’m really creating something so much more than a current representation of how people look today. Someday when parents and grandparents have passed on all we will have are memories and the photographs to go with those memories. I don’t have enough pictures of Anna and Anthony.... One million candid snap shots would not be enough. But, to have a beautiful portrait with them would be..... Well, I don’t even have the words to say what that would mean to me. I can’t see past my own tears to even write what that would mean.
We forget just how much family portraits mean to us. We worry about being the right weight or until the right season... or what ever reasons we put it off. There will be a time when you can’t put it off any more and the opportunity to have a portrait created will be lost.
Grandmothers always say “Oh... no, no, no - I don’t want my picture taken - I’m old, I’m wrinkled, I’m overweight....
Here is the thing that kills me when people say that... I loved every single wrinkle on Anna’s face, her sun spotted hands, the glasses she wore... I loved Pop’s little pot belly and the smell of his Old Spice. I loved everything about them.
Our kids and grandkids don’t care about the silly hang ups we have about ourselves... They love us just the way we are and to have a portrait with you to hold onto someday when you are gone will mean more to them then we can ever dream.
So, this session with JD, Tara and their grandparents in my mind was not a gift for Maria and Don but the greatest gift Monica will have ever given her children.... portraits with the grandparents they clearly adore they way I adored mine.
Poppy and JD
Nami and Tara
Please note: All images are the property of Michele Celentano and are copyright protected. Please do not copy images. Thank you.
