Celebrating Palestinian Culture | Family Photoshoot in Pittsburgh

This family photoshoot in Pittsburgh was more editorial and posed than is typical for us. We really wanted to do a styled session for a Palestinian family as a celebration of Palestinian life and culture and also to be able to gift this family with something beautiful and bright in such a dark and terrible time when there has been so much loss. Between this beautiful family and the wonderful group of creatives that came together for this shoot, we love how the photos turned out.

When deciding the location for this family photoshoot, we knew we wanted an outdoor greenspace with our backdrop. We chose the yard of Shadyside Presbyterian Church because our friend is a pastor there and is someone who also cares about Palestinian liberation. She was delighted to offer us the use of the space!

They say it takes a village, and that is true of this styled session as well! 

Izzy, the owner of ZZ beauty, did makeup for mom and the girls. She made them feel so comfortable and they really enjoyed the experience. Izzy is Pittsburgh's multicultural makeup artist so we were so glad she wanted to gift her talents to this family and she totally rocked it! 

Jordan, owner of Petals and Pages Pgh, did the florals. They were so stunning and added so much to our backdrop setup! We wanted to stick with reds and greens from Palestine's flag but stay away from a Christmas-y feeling and Jordan totally made it happen so perfectly! 

Laurie Trok made the beautiful and incredibly delicious cake that is a true piece of art (complete with edible flowers!).

Chelsea, owner of Beloved Event Co Pgh, was so amazing at coordinating all the moving parts and helping us arrange logistics and thinking through details of everything. 

There were a few special and meaningful aspects of this family photoshoot that really stood out to us. First and foremost was the shadow silhouette portraits on the backdrop. As I talked with the family about the session we brainstormed together and something that came through our conversations was inspiration from the graffiti artist Banksy, specifically "Flying Balloon Girl" a mural on the apartheid wall in the West Bank (occupied Palestine). 

Next was the culturally significant clothing the family wore. The thobes (traditional Palestinian dress) the sisters are wearing came from their grandmother who lives in Occupied Palestine. The stitching on the thobes is called Tatreez. This Palestinian embroidery has a rich history and meaning. "The practice of tatreez originated in Palestine over 3,000 years ago." (source)

And, of course, the various Keffiyehs in the session! The keffiyeh is a rich cultural symbol and Palestinians encourage anyone to wear it who believes in expressing solidarity with Palestinians. 

"The Palestinian keffiyeh (AKA kufiya, shemagh or hatta) is a black and white checkerboard headscarf. The keffiyeh has taken many forms, dating back as far as 3100BC Mesopotamia in the “Kufa” region of Iraq.

The iconic patterns on the keffiyeh have long been disputed. Typically, it consists of three main patterns: the fishnets, the bold lines, and the olive leaves. 

The fishnet pattern – the most popular of the three – is argued to represent the Palestinians’ connection to the sea." (source)

We were connected to this wonderful Palestinian family through Ameerah, a friend we have met through our mutual advocacy for Palestine. Working with them and these other wonderful creatives meant more to us than we can express. We’re so grateful to have met them for this family photoshoot to celebrate the Palestinian culture.