Yes, my kids have had their photos taken by other photographers who would burn the files onto a CD or put them on a flash drive, but is that what I really want to leave behind? What happens when one fails or gets broken? What happens when technology evolves and your computer can't read those old CD's? What happens when the phone that you have all of those memories stored on has to have a factory reset? All of these things have happened to me, and it's devastating!

I grew up in a home where photography meant something, and yet, I still fell into that trap that everyone falls into. I'll get to it someday, and then that someday doesn't ever come.

Growing up, my dad loved photography, and my mom loved genealogy, so you could say that documenting family events is in my blood. I remember hanging out with my dad in the darkroom, watching images slowly appear, as if by magic. What we were creating mattered. Those photographs didn't just live in boxes. They were shared with family and friends.

Not long ago, I found an old photograph of my grandparents. It's just a small picture, just a simple snapshot of them sitting together on a porch swing. It's one of the only photos I have of them. And now, it is beginning to fade, but even as it fades, it means so much to me.

That photograph is more than paper. It's connection. It's presence. It's proof that they were here and that they were loved.

And that's why I do what I do.

Because your memories deserve more than just living on a screen. They deserve to be seen, every day. They deserve a place in your home on your walls, in your hands, and where your children can grow up surrounded by their story.

Because one day, these photographs won't just be images. They'll be the way your children remember your laugh, the way your family felt in this season of life, the proof that this moment mattered, and that you were here.