My family suffered a devastating loss this week in the sudden, unexpected death of my cousin, Kenny.  I may write in detail about Kenny in a future post, because if there was ever any larger than life personality that knew how to love and should be remembered, it was him.  But for now, I will settle for sharing a recent family shoot I had with 2017 LPJ Photography Senior Rep, Taylor Phelps, her brother, Cole, and their mother, Beth, and telling you one thing that keeps pounding inside my photographer’s mind…  TAKE MORE PICTURES.  Don’t wait.

We live in an age of camera phones.  Ere’body has one.  So while we take the pictures of the good food we eat, let’s put our arms around the people who mean most to us and snap that too.  I LOVE the photos people post from their phones, because they capture REAL life relationships and moments.

But social media is in constant change.  Technology fails.  Five, ten, twenty, fifty years from now, Facebook or Instagram may not be around.  They probably won’t be.  That flash drive or disk that we are keeping those picture files on may get scratched.  The computer they are compatible with may be extinct.

If I was reminded of anything this week, it is that PRINTED pictures matter most.  It has been therapeutic to look through old photos of my family through the years.  We got to go back to a time when we were all there, and we got to SEE how much we mean to each other.  We got to SEE what we looked like, TOGETHER.  My children got to see that too.

 

When I photograph families, it is that INTERACTION that I want to catch and document.  The traditional poses are important, and we do those too… but the love and relationships are what I am after from the people I shoot.  THAT is what means most to me.

Memory, at least for me, doesn’t run like a film in my mind.  I remember in a series of snapshots and feelings.

FEELINGS.  Give me ALL the feelings.

At the beginning of a session, I always tell my folks, “There are some things I am going to ask you to do that will make complete sense.  And there are going to be things I tell you that are going to make you think I have lost my mind.”

Yes.  If I photograph you, I WILL ask you to do ridiculous things, and I WILL ask you ridiculous questions.

But there is a method to my madness.

We have fun.  We MAKE memories.

And I hope the results are treasures to the families that I serve.

Which is why, by the way, I choose to provide my families heirloom products that are both beautiful and lasting.

So I will hop on my soapbox, and preach to you AND to me… PRINT your pictures, people.  And if you are waiting to lose those last ten pounds, or you hate to see yourself in pictures, or you find yourself too busy to schedule a session, or you want to wait to put family photos in the budget for a more special time… don’t.  Don’t wait.

Those last ten pounds don’t matter.  The people who love you think you are beautiful.  We carve out time for what is important.  The most special times are the ones when we are with the ones we love.

We don’t want those memories to be lost forever.

Love and Blessings,

Lymarie