Just wanted to say to my little man in Heaven, Michael Dominic Moore, we love & miss you!! You would be 18-months-old today and Mama’s life would be oh-so-different… wow. I picture you every day in my mind as less than 5 lbs. & so very tiny, yet I dream about how big you’d be today, walking & running, and how’d you be chasing after your big sisters all the time & on the cusp of summer, we’d be making visits soon to the Wilson Pool and…
So take all those emotions and put them in front of a camera and what do you get? Well, just ask Kim (Campbell of Campbell Salgado Photography). She had the challenging task of working with all that intensity and emotion, both before & after this transformation process, and she did it like a pro! Kim enveloped me with such grace and comfort. She knew instantly I was so nervous and self-conscious that cold, wet day in late March to take ‘before’ pics. I couldn’t relax, which is unlike me, and the camera honestly scared me. I don’t know how many times I said “I haven’t had my photo taken since our wedding (2003)”. What I didn’t say, but she knew, was that my heart was in my throat. Truly, the last professional pictures I had taken were on the day our son passed away on December 18, 2008. It was an unforgettable experience that I won’t go into detail about, but the memory was there and I thought, I have actually avoided the camera for the past year & a half. All my photos are from early 2008 or older, except those of the kids. Why was I hiding from the camera? What was I afraid to see?
I think my answer was apparent when I looked at the ‘before’ pics and shared them with only two people – my best friend and my husband – and they both said the same thing: “um, they are nice, but you look sad”. Identical responses. My response: “ugh, I don’t look like myself”. No offense to Kim, but hmmmm… pictures speak a thousand words.
So forward to last week and both my excitement & apprehension for an “after” photo. Throw in a no-nap toddler and nervous stomach and you have the scene well set! I even brought a bottle of red wine to calm me down (which I shared!) ;-) There’s Kim… just as calming as ever. She walks over amongst all the chaos of people & kids & make-up & I say something – almost apologetic- like “please tell me this is normal”. She gives me a smile that instantly puts me at ease and just reminded me to ENJOY this moment in time. Just enjoy it. And her work has begun.
That’s all I needed! And with the amazing guidance from Kim’s colleague, Allie, & styling & encouragement from Mindy Helmer and Gretchen Harp doing my make-up, suddenly, I couldn’t contain my joy. I felt like a pampered celebrity of sorts and it was just so FUN! Even Sophie got a chance to have her make-up done which was a thrill to her at 12-yrs-old. We shot inside and outside and Kim kept the entire shoot moving along with new ideas and fun ways to capture our family (& keep Maddy entertained – “the candy game”!). Her home/studio with husband and partner, Francisco Salgado, is just beautiful and there is instant sense of creativity present when you walk through the doors. She is an artist and you are in good hands.
And what I felt that day – and what’s been occuring the past two months – is priceless. It’s an alive Andrea, a joyous gal who is confident and comfortable again, and honestly, it was a mama who was proud of the family that was represented that day - both in body & spirit. How beautiful to have someone capture the ESSENCE of that moment in time. We did it not to memorialize some major event or occasion (although it was significant). We simply captured TODAY. I highly, highly recommend it, folks. Do it for your family because you will not get that moment in time back. Kim, thank you, dear… we would have absolutely missed out if you were not involved in all of this. I am so grateful! 
