Behind every photograph, there is a story, some greater and more meaningful than others. For this one I thought the words of the story would be best told by the mother in the photo...

"Smile!"  It's the first thing said to you before someone snaps your picture.  But what if you couldn't smile a full smile anymore?  Imagine my horror when out of the blue I was told I had a rare type of brain tumor that needed brain surgery to remove, and may leave half of my face paralyzed.  Turns out that being physically fit and eating well don't guarantee everything in life.  With 2 young kids, I started to wonder if they would grow up not remembering what mom looked like with a full smile.  Why had I put off having professional family pictures taken all of these years?  It was sad that it took this turn of events to rectify that situation.  I immediately called Christopher M. Johnson and booked us.  Five weeks before heading in for brain surgery, we headed to the beach to document a moment in our lives that we might never get back.  Shame on us for waiting so long and having our priorities wrong.  The pictures turned out amazing. When we look at them; we don't see hair out of place, a strange person in the background, shadows on our faces, or one person with their eyes looking away. It's what we DO see that stands out.  Our smiles.  We couldn't be happier.  The surgery is behind us now, and we're happy to report that my smile is bigger than ever!  I can't wait to document it again; and with a fresh perspective on how fragile life is, you can bet we won't wait for tragedy to strike this time around.

Thanks Adrienne, for sharing your story.

The recipe: Canon 5D MkII, 70-200/f4 L Series lens, ISO 400, F5.6, 1/100 second exposure
plus a great deal of courage and positive attitude from the family