leg.a.cy

What will you leave behind? My Grandmother was an amazing woman...unbelievably tenacious, loving, and fiercely devoted to her family and her God. She lost her beloved father to a work accident when she was just a girl, and was widowed as a young mother when my father was 4 years old. Her life was filled with struggles and hardships, and in spite of that, she (and her mother) managed to document the stages of her life in photographs. Not just any photographs, but beautiful, professional portraits...pieces of art. These photographs are precious to me. In one of them, she is 14 years old...in another, she is in her 20's. In another, she is a small child, and still in others, she is with her husband and my father as a boy- as a teenager- as a man. These images are absolutely stunning. They remind me of the life she lived...even before I came into this world; they remind me that she was not just "Grandma". She was Elvira Gomez; a person all her own. Her experiences were unique. Her beauty was unique to her, it was honest and fierce, and it came from within. Her entire life was a legacy to me...the lessons she learned and passed on readily to my sister and I will be with me forever. She did not collect fine things...but she collected these photographs of herself and her family that I will be able to pass on to my own children when I am gone. The first two images here are of Elvira, my grandmother. The last two are images I took in my studio, and are inspired by those of my grandmother. I absolutely love being able to create beautiful legacy portraits that will be cherished into the next generation and beyond.