Hi, I'm Emily Podsiad.

I remember it so vividly, a young girl standing in front of the photo wall in my grandparents’ living room. It was adorned with photographs spanning over a hundred years. Of grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents – childhood photos in front of homes, wedding portraits, christening photos – all in black and white. I was captivated as my grandmother stood next to me tracing the history, telling me stories, as we moved from frame to frame.

As I held her hand, I imagined meeting each of these people face to face, hugging them, knowing them, loving them. The photos were so much more than just images to me. They told of entire lives, lives that felt like such a big part of the understanding of my own, even though I had never met a single person on that wall.

That’s where I think my love of photographs began. It was in those moments, standing there with my grandmother, that I learned what a photograph really means. What a photograph really holds.

I bring this awe and knowing to every single family I photograph. I know your photos are going to be a window into your life too. Your love, your struggle, your happiness, your pain, your story. One day your great-grandchildren will hold them in their hands and they will be able to imagine knowing you and hugging you and loving you too.