why photography is important

“Life moves so fast.”

As a kid, I remember hearing grown-ups say things like this and never thought those words would come out of my mouth. But they have. The other day, I heard myself say, “How am I staying the same age while kids these days keep getting younger and younger?”*

What the…??? When did I start sounding like my parents?

With age, comes wisdom, yes. But also the realization that things are impermanent. I’ve spent the past week grappling with this idea. The sudden death of my kitty took the wind out of my sails for a few days and had my asking some deep questions about life and why we do what we do….or more specifically, why do I do what I do?

This question led me to dig a little deeper and question not only my role, but also the role of creativity and art. Why do I make the choices I make? How can I make an impact? What is the role of art and photography in a world that moves so quickly? And then I found myself asking myself this doozy of a question: Why is photography important?

And so I’ve thought about it a little and here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Photography is important because it slows down the pace of life and freezes time.

• Photography is important because it tells a story. YOUR story. MY story. OUR story.

• Photography is important because it helps us find the beauty in our everyday lives, the beauty in the over-looked and under-appreciated, the beauty in wrinkles and sags and gray hairs, the beauty in ourselves.

• Photography is important because it holds a mirror up to humanity and shows us what’s real, what’s true, how unique we all are, and how much we really have in common.

• Photography is important because it helps us remember our loved ones, remember that cute dress we wore to that party, remember that intimate conversation we had with our mom, or the shared laugh we had with our best friend.

I couldn’t be more proud to call myself a photographer. I absolutely love my job and am so privileged to have been able to document precious moments between some pretty incredible people. How cool is it that my job is to find beauty? Maybe that’s what I’ll tell people the next time they ask me what I do for a living.

I’m a beauty finder.

I’ve shared the reasons why I love photography and why I think it’s important. Now, I’d love to know why it’s important to you. What makes you stare at one photo longer than another? What speaks to you? What catches your eye, catches your breath, or maybe more importantly, what catches your heart?

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I want to help you remember the moments that are most important to you. In honor of my blog’s first birthday (which happens to fall on my birthday) and just because I love y’all, I am offering a $50 discount on all portrait and “Slice of Life” sessions booked in the month of May! There are several photo session options for families, individuals, babies, mamas, musicians, etc. and I am happy to customize the session to meet your needs. All photo sessions happen on location using natural light. It will be you, me, a lot of joy, and my trusty camera to capture exactly what makes you unique! You can check out my most recent “Slice of Life” session here and photos from a recent portrait shoot here, as well as lots and lots of photos in my gallery. If you’re interested, you can learn more about my services here. (Note: In order to receive the discount, the session must be booked in May. However, the session does not have happen in May.)

*I also keep saying that I am staying the same size, but my jeans keep getting smaller and smaller. But that’s a different story…