Some of you may remember when Voyage Denver, an online magazine focused on small businesses, featured Holly Freeman Photography about a year ago. I was honored at the time and honored again recently when they reached out for a follow up interview, this time with challenging questions about the deeper purpose and meaning behind my business. I found the question, “How does your business help the community or world?” particularly challenging.
At the time of the interview, my daughter and I were in the middle of a great historic novel called A Bandit’s Tale by Deborah Hopkinson(highly recommended if you have an 8-10 year old). I won’t get into the details, but essentially it tells the story of an immigrant boy in the late 1800s and how he helps those caught in the child trafficking of that era with a stolen camera and a flash. The book explains that while the camera had been around for some time, the flash was newer technology that made it possible to capture images in dark settings, to literally illuminate the dark side of a bustling and prosperous city. The boy steals the camera and flash equipment from a real historic figure whose name I came across coincidentally the next day, Jacob A. Riis, a man who worked hard to use his images to reveal the tragic living conditions of immigrants in New York City in order to push for social change.
The book we were reading, the questions posed by Voyage Denver, the photographer famous for images that encouraged social justice—it felt like the universe was asking me to defend this silly obsession I have with making images, and—while pondering life’s meaning has always been a favorite pass time—articulating my personal contribution proved harder than expected. If you have a minute, take a look at my response, and if you have another minute, I’d love your thoughts. You can read the article here, and you can leave a comment below.
Holly Freeman is a Lakewood family photographer serving down-to-Earth families in the greater Denver area. When she's not pondering the deeper meaning of life, she's chasing her two kiddos, doing her best to homeschool them, and capturing those deep connections between family members who honor her with the task. If you'd like to know more about scheduling a photo shoot for your own family, reach out! She'd love to chat.