Many photographers get in the business because they fell in love with photography and they now want to share that with everyone else.  I am no different and I too fell in love with photography, however I have to say that I differ a little from this perspective.  Where I differ is who I am as a person.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself so that the last statement above will start to make a little sense.  I am just an average Joe with as many dreams as the next person.  I had a very normal childhood with no tragic events of any kind to affect me emotionally. All I know from the journey in my mom’s belly is that she had a very hard maternity with her doctor telling her that if I made it out I certainly would be a special one.  You see she nearly lost me several times over the course of her pregnancy, however God willed that I be born and so I was.  I remember my mom telling me that for the 1st two years of my life I did not cry, I only grunted when I was hungry or needed a change of diaper.  Maybe this was my way of making amends with my mom for putting her through what I put her through in the nine months in her womb.  However not crying would come to an abrupt end the day my grandfather convinced my mom that I might be mute.  Fearing this was the case she determined that she needed to do something drastic to check this out so she pinched me hard and that it is when the floodgates opened up and I started to cry.

Well to tell you the truth I haven’t stopped crying since. I am one of the most emotional guys you’ve ever met. My favorite movies are chick flicks with happy endings.   I feel for people. I feel their pains and I feel their joys. It hurts me when people are in pain and I am overwhelmed with joy when they are happy. Why am I telling you all of this? It is because I want to let you know why I became a photographer. It is through these emotions that I feel the necessity to capture the love a couple have for each other, the undeniable love parents have for their children, and the unbreakable chain that bring families together through thick and thin. This is what I was meant to do and I wish I could have found it so many years before. But you know in the end I did eventually find it and that is what is important.

I cry at weddings. I cry at weddings because I get emotionally attached to the couple and feel their joy in the moment which brings them together.   It is a love story unfolding right in front of me and I have the opportunity to capture and relate it back to them by creating memories that will be with them forever. Believe me this is not a job for me but rather a gift that I was given at one point in my life that allows me to share what I see when I pick up my camera to take the shot.

There are so many things that make me happy and there are so many things that make me sad. But most of the time the joys I feel do not come from the material things I get or receive but rather from the joys other receive from the events in their lives and the fact that I was part of it. The sad moment come when something tragic happens to someone. This is when I feel the pain that they feel and it hurts me not to be able to relieve that pain. Don’t get me wrong I feel sad when negative things happen to me too, however I know that I’m strong enough to go through these events and continue with my life.

My family is the greatest thing for me as it is for most everyone else. Nothing feels better in life than when we are together and things are going well. Nothing feels worst in life that when we are apart and someone in the family is hurting.

I always told myself that we should never wait to do something with the ones we love because that opportunity might never happen again. Life changes that fast and in a blink of an eye what we’ve come to know and love disappears and is gone forever. The moments that we treasure are the moments we always want to remember and we should never deny this from ourselves.

We are children of God with so many little things that make us human, but one thing we have and is our greatest gift from Him is being able to love. This love helps us go through our journey in this world and bonds us together in difficult times.

One month before my father in law became ill we celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary. It was by chance that the entire family at the time was there to be part of it. The greatest thing that came out of this event was not only the fact that this wonderful couple had made it through thick and thin with so much love for each other but also the fact that I was able to capture a picture of our entire family. This happy moment was about to end and we didn’t know it. Our lives were about to change and we didn’t have a clue, but what we knew without a doubt is that we were happy and this was what the picture I had captured eternalized.  I look at this picture often and I remember this happy moment. I remember because I can see it again and my mind wonders back to it and I am able relive it.

A picture is not much but it brings so much. It brings back memories, it brings back joy and it brings back the feelings we had at the very moment the picture was taken. A picture is an investment that will be with us forever.   In the event of a fire, pictures would probably be one of the few things we would grab on our way out. How many times have we heard from victims that have lost their home to fire that they lost everything they had including their pictures and if there was one thing that they could get back it would be their pictures. They are the only visible connection we have with our past. They can never be replaced while everything else can.

Pictures are heirlooms for future generations to come. They are gifts we can pass on to our children and in turn they can pass them on to their children and so on and so on. I, as a photographer create memories. This has to be the most gratifying thing about being a photographer. A large portrait over a mantle or over a living room sofa is part of the decor, it is part of the furniture of the house, and it is a conversation piece. It is probably the most interesting thing we have in our homes because it brings joy and pride that we can share with everyone else in our lives.

You know at the end of the day we should never put off having our family pictures taken or any other pictures for that matter. Sometimes what we have changes in a blink of an eye and we can never get it back. If there is ever a consolation to this is, it is to be able to look back at our pictures and relive the memories of happier times. And that is why our motto is:

Preserving your life’s most precious moments