These gorgeous women are at it again. In just a few short weeks you’ll have an opportunity to ride the waves of motherhood through the eyes of 13 writers who will share their diverse experiences on stage at the Lyric Theater. This year’s show will take place on May 12th at 7:30 pm and will be sign language interpreted. You can grab your tickets here.

The first read through recently happened and this show is every bit as amazing as all the years before it. The production team pours their heart and soul into it, and it shows!

We met at the Village Gate because of the horrible weather we were having. It’s a fantastic location for an artsy, edgy sort of feeling.  If you’d like to see more indoor location ideas in Rochester, click here.

Monica, Corrie and Sally fell in love with the wooden wall.

Monica is an English teacher by day, a freelance writer by night and a mom all the time.  She was on the initial production team and then joined the cast also in 2016.  You can view her hilarious piece by clicking here.

Sally was a reader in the 2016 cast where she performed this heartwarming piece, click here.  She joined the production team the following year.  She works at Writers and Books and is also a proud mom.

Be sure to mark your calendar and pre-order your tickets here for a significant savings.

Kate’s back – and bigger than ever.

Lest she be tempted to pursue other endeavors, her last pattern the Highland Parkway Sweater, was a smashing success. You can check out the entire collection by clicking here.

This time around she recruited Elanor, a local high school student who rocked the sweater.  It’s easy to think modeling is just standing there, but I assure you it’s not!  She endured many clothing changes, sweater adjustments and unclear instructions. Thanks for your time, talent and patience Elanor!

I know absolutely nothing about knitting but I’ll make an educated guess that Kate’s success is found in the details of her patterns. They have an artist’s subtlety about them.

Kate didn’t really want a camera pointed at her, but here’s the woman behind the curtain. The yarn company she’s been working with requested a headshot. She was wearing shorts. I love photography.

Patricia also joined us again with her beautiful smile and thought provoking conversation. We thought this image looked like she was saying goodbye to a sailor.

Thanks so much for the lovely afternoon Kate. It’s always a joy to see you, and especially to see your work in motion. I look forward to your future projects!!!

I’ve had the privilege of photographing Listen to Your Mother for the past three years but I didn’t understand it until this year. Monica, who at the time was a client I had worked with a handful of times, was on the production team and invited me to participate.  I did it because it seemed like the right thing to do.  She explained the concept but I wasn’t really sure what she was talking about – I just had some level of trust and a smack of adventure.

In the first read through I heard the stories of the cast and laughed and cried with them. I did the same thing the next year, and then next.  I was in my comfy photographer role – on the sidelines, wearing black, watching, observing and documenting.

But then early in the morning on April 25th – shortly after the cast read through, on the day of the meet and greet happy hour, and just 18 days before the show, my 12 year old son died.

I wrote this.  It was a story meant to be shared and it was shared widely.

As a result of our story – both the telling and the witnessing, the cast and production team wrapped me in a giant group hug. One by one they came up and asked me about Christian and the experience of losing him. They sent me cards, gave me flowers, brought me dinner, and gave us one of the most unexpected and generous gifts we’ve ever received. We were floored.

And that’s when I understood Listen to Your Mother.

It’s not about a bunch of women talking into a microphone.  It’s not really about making the audience laugh or cry.  It’s not about being happy or sad, fixing pain, or wallowing in it, or glossing over the rough parts.  LTYM is about the bonding that happens when stories are written and told in raw form and shared, and most importantly, witnessed by others.

It’s a place where photos don’t quite cut it and the video doesn’t either. It’s the experience of being there in the room and being in community through story – something cultures before us have done for centuries and we’ve forgotten but are reclaiming.

To see more images from the show, click here.

We need to do less editing in life and more sharing of life the way that it is. It is one of the healthiest things we can do for each other.  Life is hard, but so much less so together.

To the production team and cast of LTYM Rochester – I cannot thank you enough for your love and support through the past six weeks. I’m humbled that you would notice me in a support role and reach out to me with so much enthusiasm and authenticity. The experience of participating in LTYM is something I’ll treasure forever and I look forward to many more years with you all. Thank you.

When I first worked with Kate on Black Bird Knits, we had multiple models and locations and people in an excited kind of chaos. As time has gone on we’ve settled into a rhythm, and this time it was just Kate, Keiko and I rocking it out on East Ave in a quiet, low key, talk about life while you’re taking photos of textile art kind of situation.

Keiko says she doesn’t know what she’s doing but somehow manages to do it beautifully anyway.

The process of creating a knitting pattern is time intensive and expensive.  First Kate sketches the ideas, then writes out the pattern, then hires a professional knitter to knit the sweater in order to test the pattern, and then has a photo session to create images for the website.

Many people don’t understand that feeling uncomfortable while looking like you’ve never been happier in your life is a definite skill. One which many of us, myself included, don’t have. This doesn’t mean you won’t photograph well anyway, it just means you’re normal.  

Kate has many friends with cool houses and this house is a mansion on East Ave with espaliered apple trees and a slate swimming pool. Inside it’s been maintained like the Taj Mahal with its original wooden paneling, stained glass windows and wrought iron accents.

As always Kate and Keiko it was a pleasure to spend the morning with you. Thank you sharing this amazing project with me!

Listen to Your Mother is a new way to celebrate Mother’s Day. Cards and flowers are replaced (or added to) with real stories of motherhood as the roller coaster that we know and love. You’ll go on a journey of raw emotions and uncensored experiences, and leave with a feeling of community and togetherness that is so often lacking in our isolated and over scheduled culture.

This year’s show is a special one since it’s the official LTYM finale, though there is talk of a new local version surfacing next year (so stay tuned!).

Below are images from this year’s cast read through. They’re going out a little late this year because of our son Christian’s passing which has set me back a bit in blogging activities (but not photo sessions, so keep them coming!).

This year’s read through was maybe my favorite so far. Each peace had its own version of a happy ending and I’m a sucker for those.

Arguably the best part of LTYM is the diversity of stories the production team make a point to include. They cover the gamut of experiences – young moms, seasoned moms, moms who struggled with fertility or the loss of a child, moms from other countries or cultural backgrounds, two mom families – it’s all in there.

The show is also designed to keep your emotions flowing so sad pieces are followed by happy pieces which are followed by funny pieces.  No emotion lasts too long – just enough to keep you going on a fast paced journey through motherhood.

This year’s show is brought to you by this gorgeous production team.

Emily moved to Colorado, which was super sad, and Sally hopped on board. Emily is still stalking the show though, and will be in Rochester this weekend to emcee.

This is the entire cast. Come check them out at the Lyric this Saturday, May 13th at 7:30 pm. There’s a ticket give away going on now through May 11th at 8 pm. To enter to win, click here.

As Kate developed her knitting patterns company, Black Bird Knits, it was important to her that the models be “real.”  She didn’t want the images to be photoshopped past the point of believability and she wanted her knitters to see themselves in the images.

Patricia first supported Black Bird Knits as a host when she offered her house for the first photo shoot, then she was a model for another session.  This time she reappeared as a model so that Kate could have images both of someone young and beautiful as well as someone equally beautiful but who has clocked a little more mileage.

Patricia is clearly a friend that Kate is lucky to have in her back pocket because being a model does not top her list of favorite activities, yet here she was.

During this session we were aiming for simpler backgrounds to bring attention to Kate’s beautiful textile work. She’s looking forward to having this piece featured soon on Shibui Knits where she has been previously featured.

Patricia is a globetrotter and a very proud grandma.

To purchase these and other patterns, click here.

Wow.

I’m a huge fan of hers as well.  I almost want to take up knitting.  But then I remember how many kids I have.

I met Megan a few years ago through a remarkable woman who transcends a title like friend or client, and had the privilege of photographing her senior portraits. She agreed to model for us, making us all wish we were 18 again.  She was also a great sport about wearing other people’s shoes and shirts and sporting wool on a 90 degree day (without looking overheated).  Modeling is not easy!

Kate is adding this shawl and cowl to her Black Bird Knits collection. The patterns are available for purchase by clicking here.

It turns out that shawls are kind of challenging to photograph because of the way that they hang. It was easy to lose hands and a sense of shape.

The cowl was much, much easier.

Thank you so much Megan for being such a joy to work with, and a huge shout out to Kate, as always, for her artistic vision and for being an all around fantastic person. I’m already looking forward to the next time we get to hang out!

This year, the lovely Monica Gebell who is also on the production team will be reading a piece about a proud parenting moment that didn’t turn out quite like she planned.

Christine will be sharing about her experiences with domestic violence.

Linda has a pee-in-your-pants funny piece about being raised by a mother who couldn’t pronounce her name.

Terri will be sharing about the experience of raising a transgendered child.

There’s so much more. Tickets are on sale now and you can purchase them by clicking here.

For the first session we went to Patricia’s house where she quipped about pepto bismol walls in one room. She loves to travel and her house was decorated with artwork from all over the world. For this session, she was a model herself at a mansion on East Ave.

Keiko was also a model at Patricia’s house, and made another appearance for this session.

What you can’t see in this image is that Keiko’s younger daughter was most unhappy that her mom was not giving her undivided attention. A lollipop reversed that trend a few minutes later.

You can see these images and purchase the patterns at Black Bird Knits.

Kate also wanted to redo her portrait.

If you’d like to learn more about Kate and read one of the most creative bios I’ve ever read in my life, click here.

Thanks so much Kate – it’s always a joy to work with you!

Katie’s boys took up taxodermy and turned her garage into a “little shop of horrors,” a story she shared at last year’s Listen to Your Mother show.

Last year was the inaugural year in Rochester and was widely advertised in the media and sold out. This year it’s coming back, and if you have a piece of mothering wisdom you’d like to share, you sign up to audition now by clicking here.

Images from LTYM Rochester 2015

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