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