Early Morning Light // Kimono // Portland Boudoir Photographer

My father bought this kimono for me on my first trip to Japan when I was 14 years old. We opened the door of the kimono shop on that cold morning in March and the light filtered through the dust to shelves of subtle shades of silks and racks and racks of heavy wedding kimonos.

I was shy.

I didn’t really speak any Japanese and the woman who emerged from the back of the shop could have easily been over a hundred years old. She smiled at me and led me to a small table set with tiny steaming teacups. Everything about the memory is misty and filtered except the first time I touched the silk of this kimono. It was like cool pouring sand, like milk.

I felt regal as they dressed me in it.

Wrapped like a precious gift.

Nothing in my American/European upbringing prepared me for the care this paper skinned woman and her daughter in law took in dressing me that morning. Their hands humbled me.

I have waited to photograph this Kimono for years. When I met Angela I knew she would be just the person to wear it. She has a glow that reminds me of that morning years ago and miles away.