Hidden Stories
After my first blog post my daughter, Amber, pretty much demanded I write about one of her images next. (I was planning on doing so, I swear!) One of her favorite images has a deeper, hidden story behind it that makes it even more special to us. Sometimes past experience and life events join together to add more depth and mean to a story. This is often the case with a lot of my storytelling pieces.
When my kids were 3 and 5 we brought our first home in the town I grew up in. Grandma and Grandpa lived just down the street so Amber, being the oldest, was very excited. She came with us one day before we purchased the house to look around and chat with the owner. Amber was delighted to find out that the lady living in the house had a dog! Up to this point Amber had been told that we were “borrowing” the house that we had been living in which was why there were somethings we couldn’t do, such as owning a dog. With that excuse no longer standing in her way Amber wanted nothing more than a dog of her own and grandpa was determined to help her get one!
Meet Dexter!
We ended up rescuing a wild and crazy red Labrador Retriever. Dexter was pretty much the perfect first dog. He loved us unconditionally and kept things very interesting. He absolutely adored the kids and was always near them. He was often found wearing a superhero cape with my son or attending a tea party with my daughter. Amber would often paint his nails and he would even allow her to dry them under her little nail dryer. When it came to the kids there wasn’t much he wouldn’t put up with, except having his portrait taken! I tried so many times to get a nice storytelling portrait of Amber dolling him up with pretty nails but as soon as that camera went in front of my face he’d take off straight for me. I’d could get one or two group photos with him and the kids but could never get what I truly wanted. Which was an art piece to hang in my daughter’s room.
When he got older and wanted to take more naps rather than walk with me or play with the kids we decided to add a puppy to the family. That’s when we found Luke. Luke was so very patient and tolerant from the very beginning. He was so smart and quickly picked up on how to earn extra treats. It didn’t take long before he would go to my studio set ups and strike a pose with whatever might be there when he saw my camera. I’m sure he was just hamming it up in hopes of getting a treat!
She Knows I’m a Boy, Right?
By the time we got Luke, Amber was starting to out grow the dress up and imaginary play phase. She still did so a little with him but not near as much as she did with Dexter. But Luke was very willing to let us recreate this slumber party makeover scene with him and with all his floofy hair he was the perfect subject! He was only 7 months old in this portrait and got lots of treats for sitting and posing so well. His expression seemed to go so well with the fact that he’s a boy all covered in girly stuff getting all dolled up but honestly he was just thrilled to be a part of it. He loves the attention!
I ended up entering this image into PPA’s district print competition and scored my first perfect score of 100. I remember watching the judging online with Dexter laying near my feet just shocked by the comments during judging. At this point I was still pretty new to print competition and this was by far the highest score I had received. I worked so hard that year learning new lighting and editing techniques and I loved hearing that the judges loved the story shown in the image as much as I did.
That was an incredibly emotional day as that was also the day we had to put Dexter down. He had diabetes and his condition had gotten so much worse that year. Even though I really wanted to postpone his vet visit just one more time and keep him with us just a little longer I just couldn’t do that to him. He was so frail and ready even though we had been saying goodbye for a while knowing it was coming, letting him go broke our heart.
When I look at this image I’m not just seeing the story of Amber playing with our sweet and patient Luke but so much more. I’m reminded of Dexter and all the sweet things he did with the kids and how much he gave to all of us. I’m reminded of his silly personality and how he’d charge and tackle me whenever the camera came up to my face! I’m reminded of his constant presence by my feet as I learned how to create storytelling artwork. I’m reminded that there’s so much more than what’s visible to most. Those hidden stories are what make portraits and storytelling artwork so important.
