WHEN DID I GROW UP?
Remember turning up the music alone in your bedroom and jamming your heart out? All you needed was a hairbrush for a microphone and your Debbie Gibson or Amy Grant record. Suddenly the world was your stage…
I could have photographed this little girl ALL DAY LONG! She let me peek into her world, making me wish that I had never grown up.
I often think about being a kid and the moments of childhood that were so sweet they almost haunt me now. I grew up playing on Lake Michigan during the summers. A few weeks ago my sister and I went to the beach for the day. It was one of those scorcher days but there was a heavy breeze. The lake was as warm as bath water and the sky was piercingly blue. The grass on the dunes was waving at me and the seagulls were flying over head. As I splashed into the water I realized that my senses were alive like they hadn’t been in a long time. The “adult stress” just melted away. I just kept thanking God that I could actually smell the water and feel the sun tingling on my skin. The worries of life can dull our senses and make us miss out on the little things. The tiny details. The wonders of the creation around us. That is what is so priceless about childhood. It’s truly living. Maybe that’s why I like to photograph kids. To help them remember the days when a seagull could make them smile.