This is a personal post for me and one that I debated about even sharing. I feel very vulnerable about this topic, but it has been weighing on my heart, so today I am going to put it out there.

I have always been passionate about service work. In college, I spent a majority of my time serving others. I played Bingo at the rest home, worked in soup kitchens, picked up trash from the highway, and even spent my entire spring break as a student leader on the Alternative spring break volunteering all throughout Atlanta. If you had asked me what my career path would be in life during those years, I would have told you I wanted to own a non-profit organization that served others. I never cared much about making a lot of money, I just wanted a job that served and loved others.

Fast forward to the present and this amazing photography career that I have built. Although I did spend a few years in what seemed like a non-profit business (starting a business from the ground up is hard people), it wasn’t quite the service work I thought I would do with my life. Even though I know I am meant to be in this career, I have spent some time praying about whether or not it is important. I want to do God’s work not just my work.

This year as I started my business plan, I knew I wanted to really put the focus of my business on loving and serving others. It is so easy as a creative to focus on what I want in a session. But I have really felt led to start thinking deeper about the photos I am taking. I have spent many nights in a personal debate with myself over whether or not I am doing something that matters.

I think God delivered the message loud and clear to me this past week. He shook me all over. I spent weeks planning with my dear friend for her Maternity session. We wanted a snowy shoot on a pretty day and God delivered. The session was just perfect and not only did we capture some amazing photos, we had a great time. I left feeling inspired. Her photos were breathtaking from the moment I took them. A little over a week after we took them, my friend lost her sweet baby at 39weeks. Those photos I dreamt for months about were now the only photos of that baby she has. They were displayed at the funeral service and on the memorial booklet. As we hugged each other tight with tears streaming down our faces at the funeral, she thanked me for those photos. I told her that they would forever be some of the most meaningful photos I have ever taken.

Truth is, after that I started thinking about my work and the lives it has touched. I remember when Brad died a few months after I did a family session for them. His wife (and hopefully his son) will forever cherish the photos of them together.

Same with this shot of the preacher’s hands on the marriage certificate. It was the groom’s grandfather that officiated the ceremony. Now that the grandfather has passed, this photo is even more precious.

I have had this happen on so many occasions. I have the opportunity to capture life. To celebrate a moment that will no longer be there. To give people something that can bring them right back to a memory. Some days it feels like what I do is so small, but God keeps reminding me otherwise.

I hope that others can see how precious photos can be too. I know that photography is an INVESTMENT, but one day those little memories could be HUGE ones.