Photos don’t seem like a big deal until they’re all you’ve got.
Why good photography matters in a world where it became common.
Christmas always has these days where you pause and think about the year you left behind, and the one coming ahead. As we gather with our loved ones, we take many photos on our phones and our cameras, it has become instinctual to want to preserve these memories forever, and to capture the fleetingness of the moment in our devices. Days like these remind me why I have fallen in love increasingly with photography and the way it tells our stories with the people we love.
More than once, the holidays come around and we think of all the people who are with us, but we also think of those who are no longer with us. Every time during a wedding where someone tells me “Sabri, take a photo of me and ___ … or, maybe we do it later?” I always encourage people to take the photo right away. We do not think of the impermanence of people around us, because they have always been around! So, in that moment it may seem as if that person will be there forever, but we never know what life has in store and it may be the last time we have to preserve this moment with a special person.
Weddings are tricky because of this reason. One of my main goals is for the bride and groom to have as many preserved moments as possible, so that they have a vault full of memories that maybe seem a little “too much” today, but that may be worth its weight in gold in ten years’ time. Your wedding collection gallery is supposed to be something that grows in value, as your life passes by and changes with every year and the people around you change, move, grow and sometimes even pass away, sadly.
Take all of this into consideration when choosing a photographer to capture your wedding day. You may think you are only choosing the style of photos that you will post on your Instagram feed, but you are also picking someone who will see your wedding and dictate how you will remember these beautiful moments in twenty years when your life looks completely different to what it is today. Photographs and artistry will only grow in value as time passes you by if you pick a photographer who honors you and your legacy.
So, even if photographs have become something that we have grown more used to, the fact that they are more accesible also means that we do not give them the importance that they deserve. Knowing the value of these moments will allow you to value even the most “unimportant” photo and to preserve the ones who seem trivial today, but that might be a really big deal later on.
