This summer, the beauty of forever photos became painfully different. The tragedy in the Texas Hill Country left a lasting impression on the hearts and lives of so many, and underscores the importance of intentionally creating memories to cherish.
We picked our daughter up from a different camp out of state the morning that other parents received calls with news from the flooding. We were driving back to Texas as text messages and lists were circulating of who had been lost or found from our community. This heartbreak renewed a deep sense of meaning to both my personal and professional commitments.
I’ll never forget the first wedding I photographed days after losing my grandmother. Capturing the grandparents were of equal weight in my heart as the bride and groom. We keep a tenderhearted awareness of the future value of our work on wedding days, since they’re often a wonderfully rare occasion where loved ones near and far are brought together.
It can be easy to slip into routine when photographing families for portraits but now, the heartache of seeing cherished ‘forever photos’ become the ultimate lasting images for families makes our work all the more poignant, purposeful, and meaningful.
As parents, we experience the phenomenon of noticing even the subtle changes in our children as they grow. All of a sudden, with just a haircut a season of life can feel dissipated. We want to capture the sweet moments, expressions, and personalities that are growing faster than we can keep up with, before they’re gone before you even know it.
This tragedy touched everyone in our community. I would think it safe to say every mother and father thought of their children at the age of eight, and tried to wrap their minds around the grief that the families are experiencing. We’re still trying to.
Grieving is long carried after the immediate response fades and the world continues to spin in orbit while green, pink, and purple ribbons whisper, “PAUSE”.
As we are now back-to-school and everyone’s calendars begin to fill up, we feel pulled more strongly by desire to connect our work to our community, and to connect with what matters as parents and families. We’re here to capture those memories for you, and our prayer is that their value increases over joyful years and decades, and never suddenly or unexpectedly. We are forever marked by this summer. We are here for you when you’re ready.
