Rivka is one of those women whom you do not simply photograph while photographing her, something within you opens as well. There is an unapologetic tenderness in her, and an emotional intelligence born from pain that has transformed into depth, the kind of pain that no longer cries out but simply remains present. I often say that the women I photograph are not only my muses they are my teachers. They illuminate new layers within my work and within my own experience, and in moments like these, I too almost become the one being photographed — without a lens, yet completely exposed.
After the session, Rivka wrote to me: “I need to go through everything again, because I was looking at it from a somewhat judgmental place, but your opinion about every photograph is still important to me.” There is so much tenderness in this request, so much compassion in the way this woman is learning to look at herself, and it takes such kind eyes to recognize both beauty and judgment and still choose compassion. I am grateful to her for her words, for the moments we shared, and for allowing me to be there with her. Because this is how love begins between a woman and herself, and also between one gaze and another.
