Preserving life, love & history.

“We recognize that what we do is about preserving life, preserving love and preserving history.” That statement that Justin & Mary give about the “why” of their photography passion and business, has become my mission statement. In fact, it has always been my mission statement but they so eloquently summarized it and bundled it such a pretty quotation I have adopted it 🙂

I feel so passionately about preserving moments that as a young girl I always got double prints from my disposable camera just so I could use one copy to create photo albums or scrapbook and another to frame. I wrote dates & notes on the back of the prints so I wouldn’t forget & anyone who saw them would know exactly who the people were. It was a moment in time, stooped and immortalized. I like to think that I inherited the passion for family history and documentation from my Nannie who was quite the historian. She passed away this year but her memory lives on and the moments flood back as I flip through the photo albums and family geneology collection that she left behind. Each grandchild had their own photo album that she had created with photos of them since birth. I wept when my Dad handed me “my” photo album, and I tear up each time I flip through it, countless times since last fall. I promptly scanned the images & digitally stored them for  safe keeping because I don’t want anything to happen to them. Ever.  These photographs are an heirloom, passed down from generation to generation and I intend to keep that going.

This week I lost some precious images on my iphone of myself & my Mamalou- photos that were inadvertently deleted and cannot be retrieved because I didn’t back them up or take precautions to protect them. Those photos are gone just like that moment & it makes me sick to my stomach that I don’t have a photo to look back on. I recalled the story of when her house burnt down & all the kids including my Mother lost everything. All their photographs were gone in an instant, the only ones remaining are those that other family members had. I have no doubt those few photos are closely cherished even more so because that’s’ all there is.

This week I was also asked the day before to photograph a family’s Sunday supper – not the usual request and not my specialization. However, I could hear the desperation and urgency in my friend’s voice. When I heard they “why”, it was a no-brainer and it was so beautiful that I just had to be apart of it. Her father had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Family from near & far were coming together for a sort of reunion and it was the first time they would all be together in years – and most likely the last. They wanted not just family portraits but more importantly photos of the day & their interaction with each other, enjoying conversation, looking at old photographs & eating Sunday supper ( a little definition since it’s a southern thing 🙂 How amazing! It made me want the same thing for my family with our precious Mamalou because that’s real life, that’s what I think of when I think of her & our family. That preservation of life, love & history is what I want personally and what I want to give as a photographer.

Life goes by so quickly, memories are fleeting, time flies by in the blink of an eye, people & landscapes change. A photograph stops that moment. In a photograph time stands still, memories are recalled, emotions felt, people remembered, stories are told. No matter how technically perfect, well composed or processed an image – or not at all – it’s an incredible moment. Most of my favorite photos have no professional quality about them at all, but instead the include quality time, unforgetable people. Preserve your life, love and history -you won’t ever regret it.

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Justin & Mary (who I personally consider mentors in photography & life) so generously give their time and talent to other photographers who also want to preserve moments with images. They teach fabulous workshops about how to photograph weddings to capture the emotion, history & people immortally. I had the pleasure of attending their Walk Thru A Wedding workshop last summer & gained so much knowledge an insight into the technical aspects of photographing a wedding day – but most importantly it reinforced my “why”. This year they have changed the structure a bit and are offering a 2 day workshop on business/life “Spread the Love” & shooting/technical “Walk Thru A Wedding” in Connecticut…and….AUSTRALIA!  It would be a dream to travel to Australia as it is – and to be able to attend their new 2012 workshop! That would be a moment worth preserving 🙂 They are giving away 2 FREE seats (which I hope to win one so I can continue to work on my “why”…and who, what, when, where too. I could use their business, marketing & life advice too!) I highly encourage you to check out their workshops & hopefully I’ll see you in Australia!?

And…my sister Ashley wrote a great post about the importance of prints you should check out.