by Areti Vassou
Thank you, Mother! For giving me the gift of life, for making my existence your top priority from the first day you learned that you were expecting a child.
Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring the mothers, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father’s Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents Day.
The modern holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908 when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. St Andrew’s Methodist Church now holds the International Mother’s Day Shrine.
Her campaign to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War and created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues.
Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her mother by continuing the work she started and to set aside a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world”.
Anna Jarvis
Anna Marie Jarvis
Anna Marie Jarvis was born to Granville E. and Ann Maria (née Reeves) Jarvis on May 1, 1864, in Webster, Taylor County, West Virginia, the ninth of eleven children. Seven of her siblings died in infancy or early childhood.
Her birthplace, today is known as the Anna Jarvis House, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The family moved to Grafton, West Virginia, also in Taylor County, later in her childhood.
Ann Reeves Jarvis was a social activist, founder of Mothers’ Day Work Clubs. As a woman defined by her faith, she was very active within the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church community. It was during one of her Sunday school lessons in 1876 that her daughter, Anna Jarvis, allegedly found her inspiration for Mother’s Day, as Ann closed her lesson with a prayer, stating:
I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it. — Ann Reeves Jarvis
Maternity Photography
When a family is expecting a new member it is always nice to keep these memories alive. Maternity photography is the best way to celebrate motherhood and parenthood.
Monika Kritikou is a professional photographer, located in Greece, with an amazing portfolio. She shared with us her favorite maternity photography moments and some useful tips.
Monika: The joyful moments of being a photographer include all those dedicated to maternity photography and newborns photography projects. They are full of happy surprises and big smiles!
As Irene and John are expecting their little princess, it was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate being parents for the first time, with a maternity photography session. We discussed a little about the styling of the maternity photo shoot but I was confident that Irene will take care in the best possible way all decoration and props.
Memories are Important
During our life, we will live a lot of cornerstone events that will shape our life story. Like birthdays, celebrations, graduations, parties, travels, friends, couple memories, pre-wedding moments, engagements, weddings, new houses, anniversaries, pregnancies, newborns, christenings and countless more!
Having a great professional photographer by your side to capture these outstanding moments will fill your photo albums with your life story. You see, photographers are our memory keepers! They provide us the means to reconnect with our memories.
Who is your best friend in a big day?
Ideadeco: What do you think are the most important reasons to choose a professional photographer for a big day, like a wedding day?
Monika: The day of your wedding will be one of your special moments in life. The feelings will be intense and you will always remember them… but what is the most secure way to transfer these feelings to friends that will not be able to share your moments or even to your children and grand-children?
How can you reconnect with those moments again? The simple answer would be through the photos and video…
However, there is a bigger question that follows that easy answer:
How can a photographer who you chose for his artistic look, his aesthetics, his style but you see for the first time in your life, can capture the most important feelings? How can a stranger depict truly those special moments? The ideal would be for your best friend to be behind that camera… but unless he is a professional photographer, this can be a risk, not to mention a total disaster.
There is, however, a way for you to feel secure according to this matter:
By choosing the photographer who will stand by you on your wedding day, remember that you hire a person’s services that will be with you the biggest part of your special 24h day.
- Be sure that the photographer you are discussing with, will be the one that will provide the services and somebody else that you will not meet.
- Reserve the date months before your wedding so you will have the time to get to know him through meetings, even via Skype meetings, if a person-to-person one is not possible.
- Talk with him/her and explain in details how you imagine your wedding to be, some specific moments you expect to see in the images, try to explain the way you imagine the atmosphere. In this way, he/she will begin to grasp your needs and you will feel more secure that he knows what you have in mind.
- Ask if he/she could provide a pre-wedding shoot. This is a unique opportunity to get to know each other better, to discuss details, to talk about what to do and what to avoid… It’s also an opportunity for you to do a rehearsal in front of the camera lens, not to mention that you will have beautiful photos that you can use as your thank you notes, or even in the whishing book for your guests to sign.
Ideadeco: In one word what is the top factor?
Monika: Communication is the top factor!
Only through that, you can feel secure that your photographer has understood what is really important on your wedding day for you. Allow him/her to express how has imagined capturing your wedding day and let him/her free to “catch” in the best possible way the emotions on your special day. Let him/her photograph in his/her own creative way the feelings, the moments, the important parts…
For sure, what you do need on your wedding day is less stress. So, choose wisely the perfect for you photographer not only on an artistic level but also on a communication level. Live your wedding day to the fullest and let the professional photographer create the memories that can make you smile or even let a tiny little tear of emotion fall…
