Meet Virginia Anne

A New Voice at Hayes & Fisk

Meet Virginia Anne, a fictional character created by Hayes & Fisk to explore the meaning photographs take on over time and the importance of preserving the people, relationships, and moments we love.

She may not be real. But everything she’s here to talk about is.

After more than three decades of photographing families, we’ve learned something about photographs.

Their value has very little to do with the day they are taken.

It happens later.

It happens when the little boy with the missing front teeth is suddenly six feet tall. When the daughter in the bridal portrait has a daughter of her own. When the puppy curled up at someone’s feet develops a gray face. When everyone who once gathered around the same dinner table now lives in different cities.

And sometimes, it happens when someone we love is no longer here.

That is when an ordinary photograph can become anything but ordinary.

At Hayes & Fisk, we have spent more than 30 years hearing the stories that come afterward.

“I’m so glad we did this.”

“I can’t believe they were ever that little.”

“This is one of the only photographs I have of all of us together.”

And, unfortunately, we’ve heard another sentence more times than we can count:

“I wish we had…”

I wish we had photographed the family while everyone was still home.

I wish I had more photographs with my mother.

I wish I had gotten in the picture instead of always being the one taking it.

I wish we had photographed my parents together.

I wish we had done it before the children grew up.

I wish we had one beautiful portrait with the dog.

I wish we hadn’t waited.

Those words stay with us.

And they are part of the reason we created Virginia Anne.

So, Who Is Virginia Anne?

Let’s get one thing out of the way right from the beginning.

Virginia Anne isn’t a real person.

She is a fictional character we created with the help of artificial intelligence.

We aren’t trying to convince anyone otherwise. In fact, the fact that Virginia Anne isn’t real is part of what makes this idea interesting to us.

Because while Virginia Anne is fictional, the experiences she will talk about are decidedly human.

She is our way of giving a voice to something we have witnessed throughout our careers: the extraordinary relationship between people, photographs and time.

Think of her as a new voice around the studio.

A little wise. A little opinionated. Sentimental, but not overly so. Someone who has lived long enough—at least in our imagination—to understand that many of the things we think are ordinary today won't feel ordinary forever.

And Virginia Anne has some things she would like to say.

The Photographs We Don’t Know We’ll Miss

We tend to recognize the obvious milestones.

The wedding.

The new baby.

Graduation.

An anniversary.

But Virginia Anne is particularly interested in everything that happens in between.

The missing teeth.

The curls before the first haircut.

The way your daughter reaches for your hand without thinking about it.

The house where everyone grew up.

The grandparents sitting with all of their grandchildren.

The dog who still thinks he belongs in your lap.

The chaotic family dinner that feels completely ordinary.

The mother who is always taking the pictures—and is therefore missing from far too many of them.

We don't always recognize these things as milestones while we're living them.

That is the problem with time.

It rarely announces when something is happening for the last time.

“I’ll Do It Later”

There is another phrase we have heard quite a bit over the years.

Later.

We’ll do the family portrait when things settle down.

After I lose some weight.

When everyone's schedules are easier.

When the children are a little older.

When the house is finished.

Next year.

And we understand. Life is busy and complicated, and there is almost never a perfectly convenient time to gather everyone together.

But after more than three decades in this business, we also know that “later” has a way of becoming years.

Children grow.

Families change.

People move.

Dogs get older.

And life continues whether or not we ever found the perfect time.

Virginia Anne is probably going to have quite a bit to say about that.

This Isn’t About Regret

At least, not entirely.

Because we have also witnessed the other side.

The client who walks into the studio years later and tells us that the portrait we created has become one of the most important things in their home.

The grown children who now understand why their mother insisted on having everyone photographed.

The family who is profoundly grateful that someone said, “We need to do this.”

Those are the stories we love.

So Virginia Anne won't only talk about the photographs people wish they had.

She'll talk about the ones they're incredibly grateful someone took.

She’ll talk about family portraits, children, mothers and fathers, grandparents, pets, weddings, homes, traditions and heirlooms.

She’ll talk about old photographs that deserve another life and new photographs that haven't been made yet.

And every now and then, she may remind all of us that waiting until everything is perfect is a fairly good way to miss something wonderful.

Welcome to Hayes & Fisk, Virginia Anne

There is something admittedly unusual about using artificial intelligence to create a character whose purpose is to talk about something as tangible and human as a photograph.

We rather like the contradiction.

Virginia Anne may have been created with technology.

But everything she is here to remind us about is real.

The people.

The relationships.

The moments.

The passing of time.

And the extraordinary value a photograph can acquire simply because someone we love is in it.

So you'll be seeing Virginia Anne around Hayes & Fisk from time to time.

We think she has some stories worth telling.

And after more than 30 years of photographing real people, real families and real moments, there's one thing we know for certain:

Time doesn’t ask if you’re ready.

Now we’d love to hear from you.

What is one photograph you are incredibly grateful someone took—or one photograph you still wish existed?

Virginia Anne has us thinking about our own answers, and we’d love to hear yours. Email Mary and tell us the story behind it.