I thought about writing this post for quite some time now. It crossed my mind many times and then I dreamt about it last night, and so I decided that it was being put on my heart to take the time to write it, so, here goes!

Above: Genesa and her sweet sweet Dad!

As wedding photographers, portrait photographers, heck, anyone taking a photo, but especially as professionals we know that every time we take a photo it’s important. It’s significant. It MEANS something. Every time I get ready for a wedding, I want to KNOW about the couple, about their family, about what’s important to them. Photographing Genesa’s wedding was very special to me. For one, she’s a wedding photographer, two, she’s one of my very best friends, and three, her family was traveling all the way to Cabo to be there to take part is such a special time in her and Brian’s lives.

What I didn’t realize, is that I would be photographing some of the most special moments between Genesa and her Dad, and Genesa and her family that would mean so so much more then the celebration of their wedding. You see, shortly after their wedding, Genesa’s dad was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer, that took his life just six months after the wedding.

I write this post because I want to express the importance of photographs. Not just as a documentation of life, special events, times in our lives, but because these photographs, these precious moments captured, are our heirlooms. They’re what  we look back on to remember such a special time. They remind us of how we felt, what we we’re doing, how full of love and emotion the experience was, and those photographs, those memories, can never be taken from us.

I’ve learned something so significant through such a difficult time for Genesa and her family. It made me realize that every time I step foot into a wedding, every time I pick up my camera to take photos at a family gathering or a beach day with my husband and son, every time I push that shutter, I’m creating a memory, an heirloom that stands the test of time. As photographers we get busy and we shoot thousands of images, but this is something we ALWAYS need to remember. Every image we take means far more then we’ll ever realize. Never let life pass you by. Get in front of the camera. Don’t be afraid to document your life with photographs. They are your heirlooms.

Friends, I challenge you to PRINT your images! Display them in your home. Put them on your fridge. Order beautiful albums, print them BIG. Don’t leave your heirlooms on discs. When you walk down the hall when you wake up in the morning and see those images, you’ll be reminded everyday of what you were FEELING. They are your heirlooms.