Today I was inspired by the great photographer Joe Buissink at the WPPI Roadshow in Dallas. He spoke on shooting from the heart and the power of telling the story of a moment through words and through an image. Quite honestly, my heart was stirred because I love finding those sweet moments on wedding days. I love telling the story of the day, photographing the emotions of the day and documenting the commitment made on a wedding day. I am just a natural fit for weddings because I am such a romantic and emotional person. I’ve been told by people that they can really see the emotion that I capture on a wedding day and like Joe said today, it’s because that’s how I feel on a wedding day – I’m just as emotional as my clients. I think my emotion should come through in the moments I capture for them. I also photograph people the way I want to see love. So many times I share the portraits of the wedding day, but my heart is also stirred by the moments that are captured, so I want to start a weekly post called “Moment Mondays” and so on Mondays I will share the story behind some of my favorite images from weddings I photograph.
I thought I would start off by sharing some of my personal favorite photos from my life and the stories behind them to hopefully give you a little bit of an insight into who I am and how I see things. I hope they show you the value I place on photography and the way these moments have shaped me. My love for life, my love for family and my love for my husband have shaped who I am and how I see things in life and through my lens. These are just a random sampling of images – obviously I can’t share the thousands of photos that have documented my life, but these are just a few that I love with a great story behind them.
Photo 1: This photo was taken of my dad and me just after I was brought home from the hospital. I love it because I have so few photos of my dad and me and it just reminds me of the close bond between a dad and his daughter. I think it’s so very sweet and it just fills me up with tears when I see it thinking of how many years have gone by and how we try to keep this kind of bond despite the trials in life throughout the years.
Photo 2: This is the first photo of my brother and I when he was born. It reminds me of our childhood and how I am his big sister (even though he’s now almost 24 and he’s like 6’5″.” He’s an important part of my family and I love him very much. This photo reminds me so much of the value of life, the joy that comes from new life and the blessing of family.
Photo 3: Whenever my mom would bake brownies, she would let us lick the bowl. My brother and I didn’t settle for a spoonful of batter though – we would stick our whole hands in the bowl and cover them with batter and lick it off of our hands. This photo reminds me of my childhood in that we had so much fun. My brother and I would play games, make carnivals, battle to the death with plastic swords and make slides out of our couch cushions. So this reminds me of all of the fun we had together. 
Photo 4: This is my brother and I when we were a little older. Some of you might recognize this little turtle from Putt-Putt (now known as Adventure Landing) in Richardson. We loved this place! My family would come here all the time for mini golf and the games and I just have so many fond family memories from it. 
Photo 5: The Baseball trip. Sports were such an important part of uniting my family. We loved baseball! So one year my mom, the master of all trip planners, planned our summer vacation to all of the baseball parks in the Northeast. We went everywhere: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. It was an amazing two weeks and we had such a great time. My mom put the travel bug in me and this trip set the standard for future vacations. 🙂
Photo 6: The Fab 5. I have hundreds of photos of “The Fab 5” – the best friends a girl could have in high school. We basically lived at each other’s houses on the weekends and did everything we could together. We celebrated birthdays and anything else we could think of better than anyone I knew. This was on our senior mission trip to L.A. and I think it captures how goofy we were, how much fun we liked to have and how we seriously didn’t care what anyone thought of us. We were just the best group of friends and I’m still great friends with 2 of the girls all of the years later. 
Photo 7: This is a photo of me on my high school softball team. I love this photo because it reminds me of how much fun I had playing softball. I played all 4 years in high school and also played competitive softball throughout the year as well. I love my smile in the photo and it helps me to remember all of the hours of practice and the weekends of tournaments and how fun it was to play. The older I get, the more I miss it, but it does bring back some good memories. 
Photo 8: This is me and one of my best friends. “Machen” and I have been BFF’s since 5th grade. She and I were 2/5 of the Fab 5. I love this photo because it was always her dream to go to Baylor and I quite honestly had no interest in attending Baylor, but I know how much she loved it there. We’d go and visit each other at school and I planned a trip to visit her for “Gold Rush” weekend and it was so fun to come and be a part of her life for that time. Even though we’re in totally different places now, different stages of life, we still have some great memories that keep us together. 
Photo 9: This photo was taken just after our friend Joab was a contestant on “The Price Is Right.” Some of my college friends and I made a spring break trip to LA just to go to “The Price Is Right.” It had always been a dream of mine and I was lucky enough to have some friends humor me for this dream trip. I remember we got to “The Price Is Right ” parking lot at like 2:00 a.m. so we’d be sure to get into the audience. The guys were all in Glee Club at school, so they sang songs in line to the all of the other people waiting. Finally we made it through the morning and it was time for the show and we were on the 2nd or 3rd row. Joab’s name was called and we all just went nuts! So in the end, he won a couch and $1,000 for spinning “100” on the wheel. He made it to the showcase showdown, but we were all so stunned by the awesome showcase that we underbid by an embarrassing amount. But the trip was a success and we had a friend win something on the show! It was just a great moment. 
Photo 10, 11, 12: These are all from the night Aaron proposed. The back story behind them is that I planned Aaron the best surprise party a girlfriend could pull together. His birthday was right after we all got back to school from winter break. So over the break I collaborated with everyone for his surprise birthday party. I’m somebody who will find an excuse to plan or party for anything, so Part 1 of his birthday was dinner at a mexican food restaurant called Abuelito’s where everyone was ready to surprise him. After dinner we all went to a hockey game. I just thought I was the best girlfriend ever – I pulled off the perfect surprise and everyone was having such a great time. I was just so oblivious to anything else because I was having so much fun. Well as it turns out, Aaron turned the surprise on me by proposing to me later that night. Apparently all of the friends (in the first photo) knew about it and they had to keep it a secret from me the whole night. So the third photo is when I got home and shared my announcement with my roommates. I just the joy on my face because, quite honestly, I was just busting at the seems with excitement. I remember just wearing myself out from smiling all weekend. It was a beautiful moment in my life. 
Photo 13: This is just a random photo one of my bridesmaid’s took of me in the car on the way to the church on my wedding day. It’s one of my favorite’s from my wedding because I was just so excited! I love it because I know exactly where I was and how I was feeling as we were all prepped for the wedding and I was on my way to see my husband! Ahhh! It’s just so exciting thinking of it now. It was such a beautiful day and it brings me so much joy even now.
Photo 14: Aaron and I went to Ireland last year and it was one of the best adventures we’ve had together. We both talk about it all of the time because it was such a fun time of bonding, playing, exploring and just hanging out. It was one of the best times I’ve ever had in my life and the best part was that I got to do it with Aaron. He is just so much fun to be around and we just really enjoyed each other’s company. It’s forever made an impression on me and I feel so blessed to be married to a man who loves me, plays games with me, humors me and my vacation photography, and so much more.
Photo 15: This is one of my more recent photos. It was taken just a month ago of my mom, my grandmother and me. Family is important to me and it’s exciting to share in so much time together. It’s funny to know that these two ladies have known me since the day I was born. I’m so much like my mom (ask anyone, it’s really true) and I’m a lot like my grandmother. It’s special to have been blessed with such a sweet family.
Those are just a few photos that jumped out as I was scanning through images of my life. I hope that they remind you of special moments that have been documented in your life. I also hope that one day I will be able to document a special day or special people in your life. Thanks so much for reading. Stay tuned for Moment Mondays. 🙂
