Why I Photograph Relationships, Not Just Occasions

Most photography is organized around events. Weddings, Graduations, Newborns, Anniversaries. The occasion is the reason for the camera, and once the occasion passes, so does the opportunity.

While I have photographed all of these and created beautiful, cherished images for these events, at some point I realized the true beauty of these images was not necessarily the event being documented, but rather witnessing and documenting the interaction of those being photographed.

An image from a Signature Cherished Bonds Session.

So I changed how I approach my work. I stopped thinking of the reason as the purpose of my work, but rather the relationships. I realized I did not want to just document a wedding, but the marriage twenty years in. Not just the graduation, but the relationship between the mother and daughter who talk every day since she went off to college. And not just the milestone birthday, but the friendship that's been there to celebrate most of them.

And not only the relationships between people. But also the relationship each of us has with ourselves, which is often the one we tend to the least.

Images from a Signature Beauty Session.

This is why my portrait sessions don't require a reason. Just relationships worth documenting exactly as they are right now.

I think about photography less as a service for special occasions and more as a way of creating a lasting artifact of identity and connection. Something that says, this is who I was, this is who I loved, this is how I saw myself, independent of whatever else was happening on the calendar that year.

That is really what I am after with a session. Together, I want us to create something you can hold onto later. A reminder that this is who you were. This is who you loved. This is your relationships at that time, regardless of whatever else was going on.