The 2017 Martin Family Yearbook
Storyteller: Minette Martin, USA
What compelled you to tell the story of your year in a photo book?
There is nothing else that brings me back to a memory than a photo. It is a visual reminder of a time and place and smell and emotion. I'm a busy mom with three kids and a working husband. I easily forget the little things as I'm taking care of the home and driving all over town for the hundredth time that day. This is why I take pictures. However, I've discovered pictures get lost in cyber space if I do nothing with them and they take the magic of the moment with them. Every year I make sure that doesn't happen by printing them in a beautiful book that can easily be picked up from our coffee table to revisit the memories. Now that this year is printed I've seen my children pick up the book countless times. They study the pages. They laugh. They talk about "that day". They relive the memory and it is alive again in that moment. It is then I know the time I put into the book was well worth it.
What is your favorite image in the book and why?
My favorite image in the book is of our oldest daughter and my mom swimming in the hotel pool in Mexico. When we found out during our first pregnancy that our daughter has Down syndrome, my mom was by my side through every medical challenge and wave of grief I faced. When Rachel was born my mom immediately saw her potential. Her unwavering support and adoration oozes from this picture and brings our daughter to life. My mom is the greatest Grandma in the history of grandmas. Hands down.
What is your favorite story behind a single shot in the book?
The picture of my daughter holding a rock has deep meaning behind it for our family. Last year we moved from Minneapolis to Nashville. Every one of us felt all the feels: a messy mixture of excitement, loss, expectation, and sorrow. We needed to bring something with us to hold on to as a reminder that home is wherever we are together and we're not starting over, we are continuing on. I grabbed my camera to make sure we remember that moment, the taking the old to the new.
