I've been blessed with several talents by God. I guess I could summarize them by saying I'm “crafty”. My Momma and Nana are too; they're the ones who taught me to hone that craftiness. I can sew, I can crochet, I'm a novice painter...but my favorite way to create is photography. Honestly though, I think I do less creating there as I do celebrating The Creator. You know, he's spoken into existence some amazing things, but I think his finest work is us.
Yep, us. Sloppy, selfish, disobedient and sometimes downright shameful humans. We're his masterpiece in my opinion. The reason I believe that is something he equipped us with-- the capacity to love. Certainly Satan has snatched that from a select bunch of humans all through history, but as a whole, we all love, and love deeply, something in our lives. For the average human, that love gets funneled into another human (or several humans)...and it's beautiful. I love to witness it, whether I'm right in the thick of it or I'm capturing it in a frame. It makes my heart stop when I'm able to catch that “look”, we've all got it, that look that just screams “I love this person with every cell in my body”. That is so special, and I'm incredibly blessed to work in a profession where I see it All. The. Time.
Let me stop my story here for a second and introduce you to someone.
This is my Big Mama. She is my Daddy's Mama. She is a beautiful woman...and she loved so deeply I'm convinced it must've hurt. Her family was so important to her...her 7 children were the jewels around her neck. And us grandkids? Well, we got no shortage of love from her either. She passed away over a decade ago. I was in my pre-teens. I feel like that's not so long ago, but I'm 25 now...so it kind of is. Because of that, and much to my dismay, I don't remember as much about her as I'd like to. I was just too young to know that I needed to work hard to commit as much to memory about her as I could. I do, however, have this picture of her.
This picture is a treasure of mine. It's very important to me, and there's a simple reason why. It helps me remember her. Sometimes when I think of her and I feel like some details are slipping, I pull this out, and I just look at her. And I remember. I remember how cold her hands always were. I remember her wheeling herself around her little apartment kitchen, singing hymns and cooking. I remember laying in bed with her on nights that my daddy and his brothers and sisters were up late playing cards, reading the latest Readers Digest stories to her. I remember her sitting at the table with her children playing cards...and being quite the cutthroat about it ;). I remember the way she looked sitting in her recliner near her big windows, the sunlight falling on her porcelain, wrinkled skin. I remember hearing that the last thing she told my Aunt before she passed was that she still loved my grandfather (they divorced when I was very very young, if not before me even). Without this picture, in a few years, all of that might slip my mind. I know that if it's been a while, I sometimes can't recall her face. No worries though...this picture won't let me.
Do you see now how important this picture is? Without it, my grandmother might leave me...but with it, she never does. I can still feel her. I asked a question a week or so ago, and that question was “What's stopping you from having your family pictures taken?” I got the answers I'd expected. I don't have the money, I don't have the time, I need to lose more weight...all answers I was prepared for, but I'm not ready to accept.
That's right. Those reasons are unacceptable to me. It's simple really...without pictures of you, pictures that bring to mind the little things about you for someone, how will they remember you when you're gone? Or even before then. We've all either seen or had a picture that you could look at and it just pulled something from you. It reminded you of why you love the person so much, like mine. Maybe it just makes you smile, seeing the connection in it. Regardless, it's important to someone. A photo of you will be important to someone.
So. Let's knock out your reasons. Money? This is the easiest. Call me. Seriously, if that's really an issue for you, I'm chomping at the bit to work something out with you, because that's just not a reason not to give your friends and loved ones this gift. It's important to me that you have tangible evidence of your love. I'll make it work. Time? It takes me on average an hour and a half to shoot a full session. So, just to be on the safe side, let's say you need to free up 3 hours with prep and travel time. That's all. Again, this is important, or it will be one day...so please, make the time. Weight? You. Are. Beautiful. Exactly like you are. Your family loves you exactly as you are. If you are really concerned about some cosmetic issue or another, I'm willing to discuss potentially taking care of it for you (in the pictures, I'm no plastic surgeon, lol). You might have to fight me on it a bit though. ;)
See? No big deal. Seriously, this is so important. It's so much more than a pretty picture on your wall for your friends to ooo and ahh over when they come over and tell you how beautiful your children are. You are important to someone. Let them celebrate you :)
Email me.
amypinneyphotography@gmail.com
