Photography by Shea Vitti

Shea Vitti is a mother and a portrait photographer. One of the most incredible things she realized about being a mother is that she didn’t exist in photos. Now she works to show women how to exist in photographs.

“One day your children are going to look for photos of you. They’re going to look back and what are they going to find? Nothing, because you’re always behind the camera. Trust me I know, that is where I try to stay too,” she says. “I have heard all the excuses, hell, I’ve said all the excuses ‘I need to lose 20 pounds,’ ‘I don’t feel beautiful.’ My job is making the women that get in front of my camera look and feel gorgeous. Your children think you are beautiful now.”

“Address” was curated by Random Sample editor Sarah Kosch. “I was looking through Shea’s photos and was drawn to this particular thread I saw emerging of girls/women in dresses in unexpected settings,” she says. “She has a wonderful sense of magic and fantasy in her work. I felt this particular arrangement captures that juxtaposition of childhood to womanhood, looking out, ready to address the future and redress the past.”

Learn more about Shea’s work: Out of Focus Photo Studio