Ah, Monday – a great day to begin “BLOG-DOM”, according to Beth…

I was remembering a recent conversation I had with someone who means the world to me, someone I love even more than Crème Brule. It was one of those serious but non-threatening conversations where you don’t have to think about your words but are free to say exactly what you’re feeling. It was one of those I refer to as a “reconnect” conversation.

One of the big reminders (for lack of a better word) that I took away from that chat was that regardless what changes have taken place on the outside each of us are exactly the same person on the inside that we were 10 years ago. The same fears, uncertainties, dreams, desires, hot buttons and warm fuzzies.

In my opinion, that’s what photographs give us, any photograph really. A slice of the past – recent or distant – a place, a person, an emotion, a connection, yes Elizabeth, a pearl.

A wedding photograph is like a pearl. Wedding portraits may not accumulate monetary value over the years but their sentimental and aesthetic value is brought to life, especially as the human lives captured within them enter into old age. This field of photography captures a moment in time defining a beautiful change in two individual’s lives. While the pictorial memories in one’s mind of that special day are brilliant, photographs of those memories are things that can be passed from one generation to the next in a way that memories cannot be. They allow for little Anna to see the youthful beauty of Great Grandma or for Jacob to see the father he never knew that passed away soon after his birth. I began to ponder this as we photographed a wedding this past weekend. Whether or not it’s a wedding, a birthday, or just a quick trip to the coast – a memory in the form of a photograph is a bit of life that can transcend time. What a great treasure it is to be able to put a face to my 5^th generation Grandmother after reading the handwritten letters describing her journey across the Oregon Trail! Photographs are not to be taken lightly in terms of sentimental value. Whether or not you consider yourself a professional or an amateur I encourage you to take your camera with you wherever you go and capture those moments most dear to your heart. That way someday, years from now, defining bits of your life and cherished memories can be shared in a way that most anyone can relate to.