"Mom's Christmas Gift 1959 © 1959 by Paul F. Moloney

This is the season that I get out the Moloney Family Album and treasure a spontaneous portrait I made of my mother, Casilda S. Moloney, when she opened her gift, “Lives of the Saints,” by Rev. Hugo Hoever, 1955, from her seven children on Christmas eve 1959.  

Christmas was a time for devotion and love for her family and friends. The thrill she vividly expressed in receiving the book was simply wonderful for us all.  

She read it cover-to-cover then during the rest of her life she often reread the various saints’ biographies. She died in 1964 at age 74.

I was in my early formative years of photography and my craftsmanship was elementary. I used a flash attached to the camera and got a black shadow to her left.  

A couple years ago, 2007, I went to my electronic “darkroom” — the computer — and cloned out the shadow. This technically altered the picture, of course. I now describe this as a “photo illustration” so readers will understand that it is altered.

I felt I retained the integrity of Mom’s expression which was the important element and the technical alteration enhanced her excitement. I am exercising my artistic license. And may this portrait convey my heartfelt holiday wishes.