when i was 4 years old i saw the little mermaid for the first time. i was immediately drawn in to the story- i did what i could to make my life as much like ariel’s as possible- i learned every word to every song and even pressed my ankles together while playing in my grandparent’s pool. and, of course, i wanted long, flowing red hair that rippled in the wind, exactly as it did underwater. [seriously, disney!??]

a few years later i started to read the boxcar children series. i found myself hoarding treasures and curling up to sleep imagining myself in an old boxcar and listening to the wind as it found little cracks in the metal walls. whenever i saw a train, i assumed the inside was a cozy home for me to play in and explore.

in high school i found jane austin and though imagining myself in their world was a guilty pleasure, i could not help noticing a few old-world phrases enter my vocabulary and a desire for a simpler, quieter life color my imaginings of my future. i wanted to be able to walk everywhere- to friend’s homes, to ‘town,’ to church- just to leisurely enjoy my little community and share life with others. i was writing college application essays at the time and it really is a miracle that my idealism didn’t overwhelm the readers- but then again, i was applying to art school… ;)

i share all of this to show you how easily i am swept away by stories- anything from an inspiring article to a well-made(?) commercial can end in tears for me. on the way home from every wedding we shoot, matt and i tell each other stories from the day and reminisce about some of our favorite moments almost as if they were our own. we talk about specific moments we captured and the images we are most excited to review and relive. this is the reason we love meeting with and getting to know couples before their wedding- we hear their stories and see them interact and without realizing it, we begin to feel a part of their story and visualize the way we want to capture it all. for me, i imagine whether the shades and themes should be deep and dramatic, bright and warm, soft and romantic, graphic and clean or any other combination their personalities and story inspires. photography is so intimate and as an introvert, it is so much more natural for me to observe my surroundings and allow them to change me and guide me than it is for me to direct or control a situation. because, at the end of the day, i love being lost in someone else’s story. every couple we work with is so different and i feel so privileged to put down my camera at the end of the day and feel like i just captured the most beautiful story. i am so grateful that our clients are so wonderful and open to the way we work. they let us in to the intimate details of such beautiful moments and we are so blessed to capture their stories. i started to write this post to try to put into words my creative process but as i’ve written i’ve just been overwhelmed by the realization that living a day in so many incredible couple’s stories is an enormous gift. so, i’ll wrap up what became an incredibly sappy and personal blog post with a sincere thank you to our most amazing clients for allowing us to do what we do, whether or not we can clearly explain it. ;)

p.s. happy 50th birthday to one of my favorite stories of all time– a series i’ve read and reread until the pages were soft and the bindings were loose. :)