Photos of the Real World: Amy Powell’s Family Album

When Amy Powell’s open, heartfelt email below landed in my inbox, as an introduction to her pictures, it brought home to me — in an unexpectedly powerful way — how indispensable a medium like photography can be: intrinsic to one’s being, a bond between loved ones, and a way of representing the complexities of life that, as Amy puts it, are “hard as hell for some people.” It was through a camera, she notes, that her mom “showed me affection as a child.  When she took pictures of me I felt loved and special, like something to treasure.”