This session. What a breath of fresh air. Rachel's authentic kind nature and that full, eye crinkling, nose scrunching laugh, fill a room. I had the best afternoon photographing in her home and around her neighborhood, and am just filled to the brim with gratitude for the beautiful people photography has introduced me to. Could not love this girl more! She was such a gift in front of my lens.
Heirlooms
Often times I find that my life is bringing up repeat themes. Maybe it is because it is a message I need to hear so I am finding it more often. Or perhaps I am looking for it, because it touched on something true and continues to send waves to my heart. Regardless, right now the message I keep coming across is one of remembering, looking back.
One such message is about childhood. Reflecting on play. What did you do purely on impulses and passions, before the "should-dos" were established and you simply did what must? How did you see the world? Perhaps in our childhood holds clues, little answers to all the searching we do in the present to figure out what it is we should be doing and what our callings are.
The second, a sense of these days we have now are short and fleeting. That the now will be worth remembering. I am not the same person I was 5 years ago, 1 year ago, last month. We are constantly changing. And these moments we have today are worth holding on to.
So while thinking forward, on how my 2016 weddings should look, I decided to truly focus on the honoring of those moments in time by adding a heirloom box to the collections. It is my hope that each of my brides and grooms will have their own little wooden box to hold images and collections of that day. (Of course if you would like one from a family session or your wedding this year, I would love to make them available, so you can find them over in The Shop).
Ah, I can already see it! Sitting on the coffee table of your first home, or pulling it off the shelf years and years later and blowing off the dust. It simply makes my heart swell. If we hold on to these little pieces of our history what will they be able to tell us in the future? What will they once again stir up inside us as we reflect?
Flowers In Her Hair || Karisa
Every time I am about to share a post on facebook I get nervous. Feeds filled with news stories and tragedies, bullying comment strings mixed in with highlight reels of achievements and posts about where people are eating lunch today...
Facebook has become a place of tension for me more than anything. I don't hate social media, its not its fault that it creates a global stage to share the signs of brokenness in the world (and a stage to share the ugliness is certainly the perfect motivation to roll up your sleeves and do some work). But how do I authentically play in that space? What is my contribution.
The irony isn't lost on me as I post my beautiful friends, my lovely apartment. Lets be honest, even if I showed a picture of my dirty dishes, you all know I would edit that in black and white, professionally polish, and get weirdly emotional about how its the fragments of a dinner shared. (Seriously though, I might as well create a post called the bottoms of coffee cups, because I would have enough pictures on supply).
So how to reconcile that? How do I take this voice that is an unearned and simply born privilege to be heard, and produce something? What value does it bring to post another beautiful friend of mine playing with flowers in her hair? And then I remember what we are all truly striving for as we hit post on our facebook pages. CONNECTION. The re-assurance that someone hears you. And when we lash out in ugliness, isn't it for the same reasons? We are hurt or feeling insecure, so we talk about someone else's shortcomings.
One of my favorite parts of these sessions, is the atmosphere they create. Certainly every girl who sits in front of my camera is filled with insecurities and nervousness, but as she decorates herself with flowers is given a free pass to just feel beautiful, and whole, to allow a moment of simply pure silly joy.
My favorite posts on social media come from finding a voice that speaks to me in the crowd. That lays out a truth that I needed to hear. A little light in the fog. So I continue to keep sharing these portraits, because right now this is where I am finding my light, and maybe, just maybe they spark something in someone else as well.
