Life is an amazing journey, isn’t it? I once read that if you can visualize your goals and the feelings associated with achievement of your set goals-your dreams are more likely to be attained. I don’t know if that’s right, wrong or maybe somewhere in between but I do know that when I set forth creating Marmalade Photography in mid-2005 I had goals and I felt them in every fiber of my being. While perhaps I have achieved some of them I know that I need to continue to set goals for myself to grow as, not only a photographer but also as a person.
Last week I traveled to a client’s Michigan summer home on the Lake Michigan waterfront for a session. This was a session for a repeat client and it was my pleasure to travel to them to capture their lives at the place where they feel most centered and happy. At a point during our session, the dad took me through their gorgeous home and showed me the images that I had taken last year for them. He led me to the den and had me stand back and proudly said to me:
“This is where I feel at home, surrounded by these photos of my beautiful family and I have YOU to thank for these. When someone asks me why I would spend so much on (photography) I simply show them these images. How can you not see why?”
Again, it’s been said before but I love my clients!!
…back to my original point. The photo (above right) represents so much to me, it represents the creation of a business based on my love for the bond between mother & child (child & child, father & child…you know the drill). It represents the celebration of life, love and moments of happiness. It’s what my above quoted client said he felt about the images we created together. The photo to the right is the icon of what I base all my work around. I even described the feeling of this photo as “nirvana” in my recent Rangefinder Radio podcast interview with Scott Sheppard HERE.
At the heart of it this image represents the beginnings of achievement for me; not moreso than any other image taken at that time but because sometimes there is a need to have an iconic representation of what you set out to do. This image of my client and friend Sara and her beautiful curly haired boy is totally the mood I set out for each and every session. Iconic images for my clients to remember the celebration of life that took place at a specific moment in time. There is no greater goal for me to achieve.
So to all my clients I vow to continue to reach for images that truly represent who YOU are as a family and as individuals. I vow to continue my goals of creating gorgeous images that you will be proud to hang in your home today, tomorrow, seven years from now and twenty years after that. It is my pleasure to do so.
Celebrate life and enjoy the moment.
