A Mother’s Day post

I’ve been photographing families for about 5 years now and it helps me to have so many different perspectives about family relationships. Another helpful factor is that I am in my thirties and a lot of my close friends have kids now — basically, I’m around families all the time!

Until a few years ago, the word mother always made me think about my mom and my relationship with her. In my eyes, she always had everything figured out, she always knew what to say to my sisters and me in difficult situations, and she was always there to protect us.

When I compare myself to my mom when she was my age, I can’t help but think that I am far from having everything figured out. 

That is exactly what makes moms so special… They don’t know anything when they start out, but they manage to work it out along the way!

We are living in a time when there’s a lot of comparisons between one another and personal judgment, especially when it comes to raising a child. Instead of adding to this field of negativity, I wanted to highlight some of the amazing moms in my life who have been teaching me so much, even though I don’t have kids.

I’ve seen a mom who had to reinvent herself in the kitchen as she learned new recipes for her son, who is plagued by food allergies. I’ve seen moms who could not wait to go back to work, and others who wanted to stay home with their children for as many years as possible. I’ve seen a mom with her own business go to work every day with her baby stuck to her side. And I’ve seen a lot of crises arising out of the demands of motherhood and how important it is to talk about them. 

I’ve seen mothers who, after having children, now better understand and respect those who choose not to have any. I’ve seen a few mothers have to learn to like themselves again, because they lost their own identities after having a child. 

I’ve seen a mom at eight months pregnant, holding her 3-year-old in her arms because even though she is not supposed to carry weight at that stage in pregnancy, she sometimes doesn’t have a choice. I’ve seen moms who have passed through many years carrying a lot of pain and mental stress because they were at first unable to have a child. I’ve seen a bride feeding her 1-month-old daughter when she was ready to walk down the aisle. I’ve seen 60-year-old moms who moved to another country where they don’t know the language, just to be closer to their children and grandchildren. I’ve seen all of these feel guilty about not being enough for their children, no matter what choices they’ve made. 

There are so many stories which need to be told — not just stories about moms, but also about human relationships in general.  As a photographer who is passionate about photographing people, I hope to get to know more and more about all of these stories. 

But my post today is to thank all these wonderful women who opened a little bit of their lives for me. Above all, life is about those tiny moments where they can bond with their children between the cryings, tiredness, crises and overwhelming moments of chaos. These bonding moments can happen even when we get older and we become different people from our parents. These are moments which, as a lot of mothers say, make everything worth it. 

Here’s a video where you can see some of these women:

And to my mother: to me, you will always be the most perfect, beautiful, strong and kind mom in the whole world.