the main hallway of my grandmother's house is lined with large framed professional portraits that my grandmother had taken with all of her grandchildren over the years. I remember once every two or three years my grandma would take my cousins, my siblings, and I over to JCPenney to take a new group portrait. In the first portrait I'm barely one year old, and in the final portrait I'm about seventeen.

my grandma had every year's portrait printed, framed and hung on display in her hallway, and that's where they stayed for decades. The massive portraits were all packed tightly together in one rather small hallway, the whole wall was filled frame to frame. and every visit growing up I would often linger in that hallway. I loved studying the photos and being flooded with memories that only came with them. i loved marveling at my grandmother's appearance and watching it slowly and gracefully change with age. 

I learned how powerful printed artwork can be through these portraits. like my grandmother, I want to leave a legacy through portraits and tell the story of this present time to my children. i want  to invest in the memories of this moment and i want my children to cherish them with me. i want to be in the photos, so i can better remember what it was like - the good and the really hard and just cherish all of it.