I was so excited the first time we went to get our family pictures taken. 

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I still remember the excitement of getting dressed for pictures. Even though I was wearing a sweater that my grandmother had given me that I didn't really like. It was ok, because we were finally getting family photos!

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We went to the bank after business hours at our appointed time. There was a dark backdrop, lights set up, and a chair for posing. My parents were awkward, I thought it was just because we had never done this before. Looking back, it was just the style of photographs then, to be awkwardly posed with triggered smiles. 

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Smile, put your hand on her shoulder, look over here. Then there was some cheesy line that made my mom have an embarrassed smile and made my brother and dad laugh. I was just thrilled with the joy of it all, the whole experience and I was the happiest I had been in a while. 

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Then we went back in to proof the pictures. I remember loving them all, so many poses of my family and I. I remember my mama walking out crying with her arm around me, because the prints had been too expensive for us to afford. We had one 8x10 and several wallets of one pose. All this time, all the excitement of getting pictures done, and we had one pose. 

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In retrospect, one photo was better than none, but when I look back on that one family photo, I remember all of the things above. The joy, the excitement, then the sadness of not being able to go home with them. 

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For me, that is where my addiction to photographs began. Our family never had anymore after that, and the photo I do have is faded, dog eared and wrinkled, but it's the only one I have, so it is treasured in my heart.

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Since then, my father is gone, my mother suffers the effects of a severe stroke and my brother has a beautiful family that is starting his own tradition of having family photos.

 

I love the photo that I have, because it is the only one I have. But when I look at this photo, I don't see the connection my family had, I don't see that we were never apart, and that we went everywhere together and laughed all the time. I see us looking at the camera with triggered smiles.

 

So now, I love photographs. Not the awkward, forced kind, but photographs that capture who you are, who your family is, and how you truly feel about one another. Photographs that show the love you have for your husband, your wife, your kids.

 

Photographs that your children can look back on and see the same things, and

bring a smile to their faces as they remember that day, and that you got to go home with ALL of the memories.

 

That's what I'm about, and that's what I want to share with you! Let me be a part of your day, of your memories and those fantastic moments that you will cherish for the rest of your life!

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P. S. Yes, that gap-toothed caricature in the front IS me. Sorry if it scared you! :)

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