The Power Of A Photo

No one really knew. I certainly didn't. It wasn't until months later that she told me just how special the photos were to them.

I talk about how photos freeze a moment in time and let you hold on to precious memories but this experience that a client told me about drove that point home in a whole new way.

A client (turned friend) asked me to take some family photos at their house. They would be making some changes and they wanted to capture things as they were before those changes occurred. Lifestyle sessions are a lot of fun and I was looking forward to this session. We had a great time, everyone did so well, and the photos turned out great! I was so happy to have gotten to capture these memories  for them.

Fast-forward a few months and we are at a birthday party for a mutual friend and she tells me how special those photos are to her because they had just found out they were pregnant when we took the photos and they lost the baby just a few days later. These images are now forever a memorial for the child they only knew about for a short time but loved so much. My heart just melted when she told me. I still don't quite know how to communicate how special that is.

I wanted to share this story for two reasons. One is to really drive home how powerful photos are. How important it is to take them and keep them and use them. They are memorials of your life! But the second is a note to photographers. You NEVER know what you may be capturing. I did a session with an extended family that lost a member a year later. Those photos are probably the last ones they have all together. We had no idea. And then this story. You are giving your clients a precious service and a gift that may only increase in value as time goes on. Don't take that lightly. Don't take it for granted. We get the immense honor of documenting lives and I don't want us to forget it.