the power of a portrait

I didn't mention to anyone that we were going out of town for a few days. This was our first family vacation and I just needed it to be relaxing. Also, I'm a little paranoid about letting people know that we will be away from our house for an extended period of time. Nevertheless, we road tripped down to Missouri to visit pieces of my family last week. We definitely accomplished a relaxing vacation. I took minimal photos and really had a chance to reflect on why I do what I do. My grandma's old photo albums were absolutely integral in helping me reflect. My dad brought them out and before I knew it, I was absolutely enthralled with them. My grandma has this amazing way of telling stories and keeping the moments that matter and that is so much of what I find important in photography. Her albums were carefully labeled and the film was incredibly beautiful. There were so many great moments captured and kept of my dad, my aunt, all the grandkids and my grandma and grandpa's marriage.

But the photo that stood out the most to me has very little to do with me. A simple portrait of a man I never knew.

When I flipped the photo over, my eyes welled with tears. When I turned back to see this man, I could imagine my grandma cooking for him and the photo was suddenly so special. My grandma cared so much to keep this photo of this man because she had this memory of him. She took care to remember.

So often we take pictures and they end up in folders upon folders in our hard drives and we forget that we need to remember them. That's why I love photography and that's what I want to help bring to my clients and my family. My grandma inspired me so much this past week to start really putting my photos into albums. Mine will look different than hers. There will be no film. In fact, there will be no loose pictures. They will be digitally made and printed, but doesn't that say so much about our time? I can't wait until my albums are worthy enough of the same emotions that my grandma brought to me.