Blog #219  8/22/17

Model Ashley Dickey and her mom, Cindy

No matter where in the world a woman is from—Sweden or Senegal, Chile or China, Argentina or Austria—if she is eighteen years old or so and lucky enough to be tall, thin and beautiful to the point of rarity, she has a chance to be “discovered” and to find herself in New York City, signed with a modeling
agency, and doing the casting rounds in the hope of making a living—which in some cases can be a very significant one.

These young women, alone in a foreign land, are frequently visited by their mothers who miss them and want to know that their life in New York City is safe and comfortable; a great opportunity to make photographs that reveal many things including heredity, relationship, aging and…something more, and harder to define.

Heredity: The following are examples of a strong hereditary stamp—i.e. genetic features transmitted, often very clearly.

Marlowe Daly and her mom, Carole

Mary Claire Hogan and her mom, Patricia

Marni Malinosky and her mother, Louise

Paula Newlands and her mom, Nanci Knott

This model, April Bailey (on the right) was adopted at birth. She had recently found her birth mother, Patricia Karr, the woman on the left. They just met and, as strangers, didn’t come too close to each other.

Relationship:  Another observable feature within these images is the relationship between mother and daughter:

Linka Torsleff and her mom, Teresa. This mother came from Poland after not
having not seen her daughter, her only child, for a year. She could not stop holding her.

Teenage model Kate and her mother, Sheryl. In the middle of a disagreement; they wouldn’t stand close. I had to keep saying, “Closer, closer.” They would comply, and right after the shutter clicked they would move apart again, like repulsing magnets.

April Palasthy and her mom, Pamela Seay, their body English indicating a somewhat formal relationship.

Hannah Baker and mother Martha

Ruby Brown and her mom, Adele. I observed this sort of affectionate comfort in most of the mothers and daughters.

Aging:  One reason, I think, that some, men especially, find some of these images “uncomfortable” is that they see an alluring, young, perhaps sexy model and then what appears to be that model 20-40 years later. For me, these are remarkable, pictures of time incarnate…marvelous, and beautiful.

Kristen Carroll and her mom, Karen

Maggie Doucet and her mother, Margot

Lisa Forsberg and her mom, Debra

A very young model, Rachel Fox with her mother, Sheila

Model Stephanie Piazza and her mom, Rose

Also, there were pairs where the mother seemed to want to “model” along side her daughter.

Marissa Bryelle Newman and her mom, Jennifer

Elizabeth Jelle and her mother, Mary

Marlene Landauer and her mom, Adele

Lana Majstorovic and her mother, Ana Mystor, who could be a model.

Model Jolene Matthews and mother Gillian Ballard

And there were a number of models who crossed over between two different projects in my studio. For instance, model Irina Pantaeva participated in my pregnancy/newborn project.

Her mother, Tatyana, came from Siberia to be with her daughter during her delivery.

Sometimes there were significant height differences. The genes of a tall father dominating, I suppose.

Camilla Dubay and her mom, Lourdes

Deanna Murphy and her mom, Diane Goldstein

Model Jenna Snyder and her mom, Candace

It was fascinating and joyful to meet and make portraits of so many mothers and their model daughters from all over the world.

Model Annalisa Peterson and her mom, Marta

Model Viola Haqi and her mom, Joke de Vree (Joke is a Dutch feminine given name (pronounced “yoke”). It is a diminutive of Jo and a short form of Johanna)

Model Stephanie Szostak and her mom, Claude Frankel

Model Brooke Hawthorne and her mom, Suzanne

Model Gayle Brown and her mom, Jean Gardner

Annette Rosario with her mother, Teresa

Kinsey West and her mom, Terri Fedonczak