Columbus Ohio Family Photographer: On The Meaning of Dandelions

Dandelions are weeds.

Several people mentioned this to me when I picked a dandelion for my logo. Why would you pick a weed to represent your business?

When I was little we used to rub dandelions on our friends arms and say it was pee. We would pluck the tops from the stems and smear the golden petals with our foot just to see the color it made on the concrete. We would kick the tops off when they were fluffy and white so they were just collections of bare stems in the grass. Some people call them “piss-in-the-beds” because they’re known to have a diuretic affect if you eat them. So there’s that.

But. Also.

We made wishes on them as we blew the white fluff in to the wind.

When they were yellow and majestic, we made crowns out of them and became queens.

We used their strong stems to connect ropes of golden decor for forts and costumes.

We smelled them like flowers and had no idea that they weren’t.

They are shaped like the sun.

They are the color of joy.

They represent growth, hope, and healing.

The word weed is subjective. It just means a plant is growing where it’s not wanted and competing with wanted plants.

Dandelions are actually flowering plants, and pretty darn cool if I do say so myself. They have an amazing life cycle. They start as seeds and grow in to a mature plant. The plant grows a yellow flower, which produces more seeds. The seeds scatter in the wind and land to start a new plant. They are known for being strong rooted, hard to get rid of, ever present and visible and popping up in new places. Kinda unpredictable yet so predictable.

You feel it, don’t you? The analogies coming? You’re so smart.

Children are dandelions. (Did I take it too far?). They grow and root and change and blossom and eventually release from the root, fingers crossed, to be taken by the wind. Families are dandelions, ever changing and forming and moving and settling, keeping some parts the same and creating new parts, too. Couples are dandelions, from the initial excitement of growth to the blossoming of love to the changes as wisdom and age creep in and help us re-root or in some cases blow our separate ways. Sorry, I can’t resist pun.

To me, dandelions are beautiful because of their constant change, and amazing in their transformation. The fact that they are so delicate and yet so strong, so in motion yet so rooted. The constant evolution that we know is happening in the background, but only see when we stop for a minute to notice.

I picked a dandelion because it seemed perfect to represent everything that I see from behind my lens. Seeing you for maternity photos, then as you are breastfeeding a real live infant. Catching up with your kids who have suddenly changed in to teenagers seemingly overnight. Capturing a newly single mom updating her images to reflect a new chapter. Gathering generations of family to capture the growth and rooting that has been happening for decades. I’m here for it all and am honored to watch you grow.

Dandelions are weeds. But only if you decide they are. And aren’t they lovely?