A Mother’s Day Personal Project: Finding Light in Loss

For over a year, I had this idea tucked away in the back of my mind. A personal photography project that felt both simple and daunting. Like many creatives, personal projects are hard for me—not because of the time or effort (though both are real), but because there’s no guarantee they’ll turn out the way I imagine them. And if I’m honest, that fear of “what if it doesn’t work?” often stops me before I start.

But this year, I finally did it. And while it didn’t come out exactly like the version I envisioned, I think I might love it even more because of that.

I chose to do it on a day that was already emotionally loaded: the one-year anniversary of my mother’s death. And as life would have it, that anniversary fell on Mother’s Day this year. A beautifully cruel coincidence.

I knew I didn’t want to spend that day lost in sorrow, and I didn’t want it to pass without honoring both my grief and my gratitude. So I made a plan. My family and I got up, got dressed, and went out for a lovely brunch. Then we headed over to my studio, Momma’s Gonna Snap, and made this project happen.

This wasn’t just a family portrait. I didn’t want the traditional everyone-smiling-at-the-camera kind of image. I wanted something that felt more like us. I wanted a snapshot of who we are right now.

Each of us chose something to read - because books are a big part of our family life, and because books quietly reveal a little timestamp of where we are in our lives. I’m holding a book in my favorite genre, psychological thrillers. My husband went with a sports magazine, although Motor Trend or Car and Driver would have been a close second. My oldest daughter picked a novel she’s currently hooked on. And my youngest? She’s reading Harry Potter, a birthday gift from her big sister that she's excited to dive into.