Some day, if Nick and I are lucky, we’ll find ourselves middle-aged, sporting our fair share of grey, and hopefully, the parents of a teenager (or two). I don’t know about you, but at 16, I recall thinking parents were sooooo not cool. At that age you can’t believe your mom and dad were ever young. That they were ever adventurous. That they were ever, you know, COOL. This month’s self-portrait was taken from the balcony of our fabulous hotel in Paris. The place was a bit of a splurge and worth it for the way it contributed to my incredibly romanticized idea of Paris—an idea that—with a room like this and sights like the Eiffel Tower and River Seine — totally lived up to the hype.
This monthly self-portrait project has been a lesson in letting go of feeling weird about putting myself in front of the camera and instead embracing what I’m trying to do with this project and it’s document in some way each month of this particular year of my life. Doing it all with the idea in my head that some day, my children might look at these photos and study them the way I do when I’m fortunate enough to come across an old snapshot of my parents in their 20s. And with that goal in mind, someday if that hypothetical teenager of ours decides to give me eye roll to let me know just what a dork I am (and let’s face, it’s gonna happen), I fully intend to march into his or her room, pull out this photo and share about that one time Nick and I packed our bags and went to Europe. And how we fell in love with Paris. And how, dang it all, WE WERE COOL ONCE TOO. SEE, I HAVE PROOF.
See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.
by Gail Werner
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