Two years into photographing weddings a family member passed away unexpectedly. I was unable to attend his funeral due to a wedding I was booked to photograph. The day before the wedding, and the day of the funeral, I was scrolling through his Facebook page looking at all of the photos people were sharing of him. I immediately saw the importance of these photographs to people like I had never seen before in my life.

I immediately saw the importance of these photographs in a way that I have never seen or understood before. 

I promised myself that when I covered the wedding the next day that I would keep this in mind and work, working as hard as possible to get the best possible imaginable photos of the couple, their family and friends. I had a renewed purpose and connection to the importance photographs hold, long after our dear ones are gone.

About six months later, I found out that the father of the groom from that same wedding had passed away unexpectedly. Soon after hearing this, the photos I had taken of his dad started to show up on facebook. Again, it was those photos that became super valuable to the couple and their most valuable way to look back on his dad’s life. Reaffirming the mean of what I do. It is with this mindset that I approach each wedding and everything I do.

This reaffirms the meaning of the pictures that I take.