The Native Americans feared photography because they believed that when a picture was taken it would steal their soul. On some level, wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice if just a little bit of a person’s love and light could seep into a strip of film and shine on you whenever you needed…forever. This thought is the reason I am a wedding photographer. There are some moments in life that are filled with so much love and joy that when it is put into a photograph, it does seem as though you can still feel it.

Why am I telling you this? Because it is my job to capture an protect your memories. To make sure that pieces of your love story are trapped in time. Because, sadly in the end, we lose everyone. If we do not lose them, they lose us. This is where printing our memories becomes critical. On those days when our hearts are breaking we want something we can hold. We want to be able to clutch something to our hearts and feel some of that everlasting love come back to us. What we do not want to do is sit for hours wondering, “what year was that picture of Nana that I love taken?”, as we dig through a cold hard-drive.

As I sit here in my home office, in a home I share with my wonderful husband, I am next to a wedding photo of my grandparents. My Nana and Bambear (yes I was always a bit independent… I’ll call you what I like). They are likely the best people I will ever know, and I hardly had any time with them at all. Yet some how a tangible photo next to me gives me a gateway to show them who I have become. Our lives have taken similar turns both in our young love stories and our independent businesses. We even have some of the same secrets, but I’ll never tell. A photograph right here where I can reach it allows me to feel a little bit of their love whenever I may need it. Lately, I need it a lot, and while I cannot ever have them back, I can hold onto this photograph and tell them the things I fear no one else will understand.

Now I am by no means suggesting that we all start printing every little thing out…but little bits here and there. Our wedding days for sure. Maybe those unposed images from a holiday where you can really feel love, not just sense that someone said smile. Anything that makes you say, “ wow look how much we love each other”, is worth having in an album right where you can find it.