My mother was responsible for my love of the photographic image. As children we spent hours poring over the family album, black pages with white dates and descriptions under the black and white deckled images. The resulting questions and stories revealed our family history. Why was I crying in this one? Was Daddy coming home or leaving for the war? How long was he gone? Family trips, cousins, holidays, new and old homes, all remembered and preserved through these pictures.

I continued my mother's tradition of taking pictures through my teen years, growing up in a small town, and then at Michigan State. My serious studies of photography began when my children were small. I then had willing subjects, a good 35mm camera, and time to work in the darkroom. As I met friends with whom I could share my love of photography, I studied more seriously at Wayne State University, Center for Creative Studies, and workshops in Maine and Colorado.

I now feel privileged to record for my clients' families beautiful, timeless, images of their children, growing and changing. It gives me great satisfaction to share the tradition my mother passed to me and in so doing, help them preserve their families' precious moments.

- Nanette Carnick