continued from page 16
ABOVE: Emily
Aidenbaum gained
confidence about her
hearing aid after
seeing her portrait.
RIGHT: Sianna Hill is
into baseball.
18 | SEPTEMBER 19 • 2019
Balbes says it has been an honor
photographing so many children, to
gain their trust enough to take pho-
tographs where they are allowed to be
their truest selves.
One favorite photo that had a
life-changing impact was a session
she did with 10-year-old Emily
Aidenbaum of West Bloomfield.
At first, Aidenbaum was not so sure
about taking a picture if it meant her
newly acquired hearing aid would
show. It was late July and soon she’
d
be a fifth grader at Hickory Woods
Elementary in Walled Lake, where
she’
d be the only kid there with a
hearing aid. But with a little coaxing
from mom and Balbes, she posed
with a wide grin and tucked her hair
behind her ear to show off the device.
Mom Jaclyn Aidenbaum says her
daughter took one look at herself in
the developed photo and it changed
her entire outlook. Instead of being
self-conscious about having to wear
something that would make her stand
out as different, she now saw her hear-
ing aid as her personal superpower.
“Once she saw that photo, every-
thing just clicked,” Aidenbaum says.
“Now she shows off her hearing aid
and talks about it openly. It’
s like her
superpower, and this project gave her
that confidence boost to show it off to
the world just as that.”
Aidenbaum says Balbes finds a way
in her photography to reveal inner
aspects of her subjects that will be
appreciated for years to come. Since
wearing her hearing aid, Aidenbaum
says much has opened up for her
daughter. She can socialize better
with friends. She hears the chirping
of faraway birds. Now, she looks
forward to attending school as well
as religious school at Adat Shalom in
Farmington Hills, all because of her
improved hearing — and because of
that photograph where she beams
with confidence.
Aidenbaum’
s son Bradley, 8, also
got in the shots holding signs of sup-
port. She says when it comes to rais-
ing boys, it can be tricky to balance
how to teach them to be “gentlemen
and menstches” while at the same
time wanting them to respect girls and
eventually women as equals.
Sari Zalesin, a single mother who
has had a successful career in the radio
industry, including as a founder of
XM radio and as one of the National
Hockey League’
s first female public
address announcers in 1993, says
her daughter, Laila Rose Goodstein,
9, participated in the photo project
because she wanted to teach her girls
can be tough yet still lead with a ten-
der, kind heart.
“I wanted to teach Laila that the
glass ceiling no longer exists,” said
Zalesin of Berkeley. “You can lead
with kindness in this world as a
woman. You can be that tough girl
on the soccer field but still have an
inner softness.”
Bari Balbes will be photographing girls the
first Saturday of every month to keep
growing the Girls Photo Project. If you are
interested, contact her at (248) 766-3676
or email her at bari@bariphoto.com.
Jews in the D