Photos Are Priceless

This summer, I had the privilege of doing an extended family session for a family I met through my brother's baseball team. The last time they had taken a photo together, the two youngest grandchildren were not born and the other three grandkids were still kids. Now one was getting married and the grandparents wanted to commemorate this time they were all together.

The mother of the boy from my brother's team was my point of contact for the whole thing. She is so sweet and was so easy to work with. I didn't know any of them well and never met the other brother, the sister and her family, or the grandparents.

I talk about it in their session blog post, but I felt right at home with everyone there. They are such a sweet family! They had mentioned that they might want to purchase some prints and things but they would need time to decide. That was fine. Months passed and I'd honestly forgotten all about it when the mother contacted me again and said that they had decided and her mom wanted a large print of the whole group for her husband. We got it all settled and ordered and she told me her mother would be sending me the check.

Well, she didn't just send a check. Remember, I'd never met this woman before that day and I haven't had any contact with her since. The check came in a little Christmas thank-you note card. Beneath the words inside she wrote "Thank you for the pictures. They are priceless".

This is a grandmother who now has a photograph of all her kids and grandkids. I was able to provide a beautiful image that she cherishes AND help her get it up on her wall. I know her husband feels the same way from something their daughter said in an email. This is a gift to them. It was first a gift from their daughter to them, as she hired me to come, and now it is a gift from the grandmother to her husband.

I love being a part of this. This is why I do what I do. This is what photography is about. It's way more than a simple photo. It's memories and emotions and those are priceless.