I’ve known Susan for a while now and throughout all those years, she’s been unbelievably generous and supportive whenever I needed guidance and help. Malcolm Gladwell writes in his best seller, “The Tipping Point” of three extremely rare types of social gifts that are invaluable in society – connectors, mavens and salespeople. And though I think Susan fits to a certain degree in all three categories, to me, she is an amazing connector.
For those unfamiliar with Gladwell’s term, Connectors:
are the people in a community who know large numbers of people and who are in the habit of making introductions. A connector is essentially the social equivalent of a computer network hub. They usually know people across an array of social, cultural, professional, and economic circles, and make a habit of introducing people who work or live in different circles. They are people who “link us up with the world … people with a special gift for bringing the world together.”They are “a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack [… for] making friends and acquaintances.”
– Source, Wikipedia
I don’t know how many random emails I’ve gotten from her over the years that start out with something like, “Hey, do you know this person? You should get in touch with this organization. He can help you with…” Or I’ll get an email from a complete stranger saying something like, “Hi, I’m a friend of Susan’s and she referred you…”
I think the ability to connect people is such an amazing quality… it doesn’t just come in handy as a friend or colleague, but as a wife and mother as well, I’m sure.
And with that said (how do you like, that segue?), I introduce you to Susan’s beautiful, growing family. Her and her husband, Sam have been married for a few years now (whose wedding photos were taken by the studio I started off at, incidentally) and have two beautiful children – Ari and Max.
For a vast majority of my family portrait sessions with young children, I like to help plan and document family activities for a more casual, laid back theme, and do less formal, traditional portraiture. Like a “Slice of Life” capture of the everyday. So with that in mind, we had a little pizza party (Slice of Life, pizza… get it?) and had some quality family time afterwards.
I hope you enjoy the images below.
~Jase
