Remembering Nana | Denver Portrait Photographer

I spent last week in Chicago, with my family, even though I’m going back in a few days for Thanksgiving. I went home last week to attend my grandmother’s funeral and to sit shiva with my family after. (Shiva is the Jewish tradition of gathering with friends and family for a few days after the funeral to mourn.)
To honor her, I wanted to put together a blog post of photos I’ve taken of her, as well as the photos we displayed for shiva. I loved looking through the old photos of her when she was young, her and my grandpa, her with my brother and I as babies. I wish I had taken more photos of her in the last few years.
It took me a long time to realize her strength. My other grandma is a Holocaust survivor so that was what I thought strength always looked like. But this woman recovered from a horrific accident, beat cancer three times, lived with one lung, and was recovering from surgery when her husband died. She still found motivation and joy in her life. She showed me that strength comes in many forms and I am so grateful to her for that.
This Thanksgiving would have been her birthday. We usually have a theme every year that we base our meal around. This year we will be cooking Nana’s recipe’s and playing her favorite music.










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