Add Meaning to your Portraits with Emotinal Symbols

I have always loved the red embossed cover of the little photo album my mother started for me when I was a baby. It has roses on it and I love to run my fingers over the design. I picked it up the other day and opened it. There was a picture of me with my favorite doll. Her name was Connie. She had plastic hair embossed on her head and a little hole in her pursed lips where she could take a bottle. We were inseparable for years but I grew and became careless with her over time. One day I left her outside overnight and found that the dog had chewed off her little hands! Sigh.

I don't have Connie anymore, just the memory of her. Just like that little five year old girl with the toothless grin is only a memory now.

This photograph has huge meaning and emotion for me because it shows me holding Connie. She is an emotional symbol of that time in my life.

Here is what I would like you to take from this: As you plan your next portrait session, think about what is meaningful in your life. Is there a physical object that would symbolize something to you and add deeper meaning to the portrait? It might be featured prominently or it might be something barely noticeable in a corner of the image. How to incorporate it artfully into the portrait is up to me. Your job is to let me know it exists.