Three, by Ariane Moshayedi
Forever and a lifetime ago, an email landed in my inbox from a woman, Ariane Moshayedi, who said she was a reader of my site and knew I was expecting my first child. She was a photographer, she said, and she’d love to take our first family photos once the baby arrived.
The shoot did not start out especially fun. We timed it perfectly, of course: Ariane arrived at the exact moment that our son decided he needed to nap, and that if he was not going to be permitted to do so, he was going to make all the adults contributing to the non-napping situation as miserable as possible. Kendrick and I were mortified, but Ariane was patient, relaxed, and so much fun to work with that we eventually just all settled into letting the photos be whatever they were. We coaxed a couple of smiling-through-the-tears shots out of him, but most of them ended up looking slightly less peaceful-and-dreamy, and slightly more like…this.
Exhausted. Nervous. Joyful. Real. A snapshot of exactly who were were at that exact moment in time.
Which of course means that I wouldn’t have wanted them any other way.
It’s been six years since that first shoot, but Ariane and I have kept in touch – I carry one of her gorgeous leather camera straps wherever I go (and let me tell you: that thing has lasted) – and now she’s opened her own fine art photography studio and is making her breezy, beachy, California-inspired prints available for purchase. You can order the prints in various sizes, and all have free shipping, with optional framing.
This is the print I chose to hang in our master bath (which is not yet finished, hence its presence sitting there on my floor, behind a bookshelf and Lucy). Below are a few more of my favorites – they start at just $25, and you can use code RAMSHACKLEGLAM10 for 10% off through June 16.
