My Why | A Personal Post
/If your house was on fire what is the one thing you'd grab?
Photographs.
As many as your hands could hold.
Recently, I was asked that very question, along with the "why" question.
Why do I do what I do? Why did I start DMP in the first place? Why do I spend 20 Saturdays out of the year capturing someone else's love story?
Here's why...
Because I love capturing a moment that will last a lifetime.
Think about it. How many times do you pull out those embarrassing childhood photos for a throwback Thursday post? Or how many times do you trace the outline of your grandmother's nose in that picture of her in 20s because it's a spitting image of you?
A photograph freezes that moment of time, every wrinkle and belly laugh. Moments come and go, but a photograph says no, not this one. I want to treasure this moment.
Last year, I sat down with a sweet young bride, over coffee of course. She had one of those questionnaires. You know the one full of questions for your potential photographer. She asked a few generic questions, but then she asked me why I love what I do and how I got started.
Well, honestly, I've always been that girl with a camera and somehow that turned into a dream career.
The question floated around in my head for a few minutes, landed, and the tears began. I saw myself twirling around the dance floor with my dad, on multiple occasions.
You see these photographs would become treasures the moment he left this earth and took his heavenly home.
Allison Rodgers captured the last photographs of my father at my brother’s wedding in April of 2010. He danced and had the time of his life.
It’s no surprise that some of my most favorite memories (and sometimes toughest) of a wedding day are those shared between the bride & her daddy.
From the time he first sees his little girl in her dress, to the moment he walks her down the aisle, to their dance at the end of the night...they are moments I don’t want to miss.
To my brides and their beloved families who have trusted me to capture these moments for you - thank you.
You opened your hearts and lives to me. My prayer is that you treasure these images for a lifetime.
To my daddy - thank you for believing in me long before I believed in myself. Thank you for teaching me the importance of documenting moments that are often gone so quickly. It's because of you and so many others that made me the photographer I am today.