How do I explain the Cook Sisters session? Countless intro’s on how I photographed this session has run through my head but to sum it up – therapeutic to the soul. So how did we get there? Let’s go back a bit…
My good friend Anita who has let me photograph her wonderful children Jonathan and Jenny has an amazing mom Betty. When she’s in town, she attends our book club get togethers and she has helped with the Legend band on volunteer events, so I always get a few minutes to chat with Momma House and I was even able to photograph Momma House with her beautiful daughter Anita and granddaughter Jenny in natural light and this is still one of my favorite sessions of all time… till I met the Cook Sisters.
Anita said that her Momma, (Betty) and Momma’s sister Nonie along with daddy would be visiting from Alabama and the oldest sister Aunt Verna who lives in Colorado with her daughter Heather (who makes the best cookies EVER) would all be together for a short visit. I had to come visit and meet them all, Momma House insisted I come visit. She’s like my mom to me and you don’t say no to her. This was March, it had snowed and Aunt Nonie had slipped on the ice the night before and hurt herself that required an ER visit and was now laid up resting, we had war wounds to share… Your scene is set… now for those who know the old 80’s show “Designing Women” – imagine that is what you walk into… a room with 3 very southern charmed women with stories to tell and they did for hours and I don’t think I had laughed in such a long time. Each of their personality would shine through – the proper one, – the spirited one and the one that called it as it was. I am instantly in love with them all. I knew of the area they grew up in, my husband grew up in the same area so I could relate very well to their stories. There was joking as I am an Auburn fan by marriage and there were Auburn and Alabama fans in the room.
What I loved about them is that they were passing down history. Anita and cousin Heather would re-hear stories they grew up with but learn new pieces of the story as the sisters were all in the room telling their side. I love listing to our older generation because their lives are rich and full of wonderful memories, passing down history on how their lives were lived.
Then, for the first time in almost 3 months, I picked up my camera and I stepped in and asked for some pictures. Feeling a little rusty and always feeling new at this thing called photography, again – the scene… Anita has moved from Parker to Larkspur and has this beautiful deck that leads out to nothing but woods in the back. With snow falling, a mist in the air, it was the perfect set up for pictures. We couldn’t move Aunt Nonie around much and I wanted her not to be in pain so I moved quickly to get what I wanted. Editing the images I went with rich colors, lots of black and whites as I wanted them to see them and not was around them.
Ask a photographer what their favorite photo is and they will tell you the next one is… for me, this session is high on my list of favorites… the lighting, the scenery, the editing, but most of all the people made this session beautiful.
I found my soul sisters and in the end I was adopted by the Cook Sisters and I’m now an honorary Cook Sister, which is a beautiful gift that I will treasure.
Love The Cook sisters – Aunt Verna, Mommma Betty and Aunt Nonie (Wanda)… xoxoxo Me
