The Purpose & Genesis Behind Our Business

We want to lean into our final year in photography with purpose and intentionality, as we pray we have done all along our journey.

With that, we have a series of 20 blog posts that we want to share over the course of the next 7 months. Some are just about our personal story, others our photography journey, others to build into the community of photographers, and some to continue to serve those looking for a photographer, even if that photographer won’t be us.

There is a lot that we will cover and share. And to be honest, this is probably more for us to help process through this change and our own grief in the journey, but as always, we are welcoming you in on the journey with us.

To kick it off we want to share a two-fold blog: 1) Our story of why we got into photography in the first place and 2) why we believe photography matters and how that has grown or changed over the years.

So, why photography?

Our photography journey started with Courtney. Courtney has always been interested in taking photos. From being a young child, she was fascinated by the mechanics of how it worked. “How does what I see through this hole appear on the film strip inside the camera?” It seems that there is often one unofficial “memory keeper” amongst a friend group who documents a good portion of their shared history. To her friend group, this was Courtney. She loved capturing goofy images with her friends, and even more, the special memories that they commemorated along the way.

It wasn’t until a few years into our marriage that we invested in a decent digital camera- a crop-sensor Nikon D90 DSLR with an 18-105 mm kit lens. As Courtney started to learn the mechanisms of this camera in their most basic form, (and yes, she was DEFINITELY shooting it in Auto mode at this point) she challenged herself with a photo-a-day project. Every day she would pick something to stretch her creativity, trying to notice things in a slightly different, more intentional way, noticing the particulars of a bird’s nest, or the intricacies of the flesh on a piece of fruit.

Sometimes it would mean coming up with an idea for a creative shoot with friends, or sometimes our son (who was about 2 years old at the time). This is where Courtney started to take interest in honing her craft and began to play with various creative elements of photography. People would comment on how she “had an eye” for photography and it got her thinking- could there be more to this than just a fun hobby?

After playing around for a little while, Courtney began to wonder what it might look like to become a “photographer-for-hire.” But that is a big, scary and overwhelming jump. How do you go from being someone who just likes taking photos to someone people would actually pay to do that? Would people actually pay her for this? What do you do to “break into” this industry? How do you learn everything you need to know to prepare for something like that? Well, as it happened, Courtney got the chance to ask someone all of these questions, and more.

While in attendance at a friend’s wedding, Courtney took a leap of faith to approach the wedding photographer, Trevor Persaud formerly of Blu Room Photography, while at their reception. Initially she was so nervous, but after asking him some questions, she came to the one question at the forefront of her mind- was he looking for a second shooter? Trevor was extremely gracious and arranged a time to get together to talk things through. After talking a bit about what she knew, and what she was hoping to learn, Trevor told Courtney in their first meeting that he would take her on as his second shooter. He explained that someone had taken the time to build into him, and he wanted to pay that forward.

Courtney spent a couple seasons second shooting with Trevor. This was so fundamentally huge- being able to shoot weddings and learn in a hands on, real life scenario- without being “on the hook” for someone’s entire wedding day was an incredible gift. Trevor gave her the opportunity to shadow him, assist, and quietly watch and learn what he did. She got to see behind the scenes of what a sometimes chaotic wedding day can look like, but have a sort of safety net to walk through it all with.

He pointed her to some really foundational learning resources, and provided feedback while being so kind, gracious, and supportive. Thank you, Trevor, for being the first person to fan that spark along this journey. Your kindness and the precious time you gave to put in the work have never been taken for granted.

Trevor eventually decided that it was time for him to step away from photography, as he had a growing family of his own. So at that point, Courtney felt it was time to take another leap and try out what she had learned- but this time, on her own. She loved shooting, and began shooting anything and everything that people would ask her to do. But then she quickly encountered something she really didn’t love… the process of editing. COURTNEY. ABSOLUTELY. HATED. IT. It took her far longer than it should and she struggled with the entire process, often leaving her frustrated and in tears.

Enter- Cam.

Cam has never been one to sit on the sidelines and watch as someone else struggles, especially when it is his wife. He has always been gifted with computers and technology, so after hearing about Courtney’s many frustrations with the editing process, he offered to learn how to do it. He was sure he could figure it out, and maybe it could help to alleviate some of that stress for her.

Cam would watch hours of training videos to learn more about editing, and after a while, began to also take an interest in the shooting aspect. “Why did you choose to shoot it that way? Would it work if you tried doing this?” If he was going to edit the photos, he wanted to learn more about the photography process as a whole.

So we started out shooting items in our living room. Courtney began explaining the learnings she had taken in from Trevor. We began watching or listening to every free webinar we could sign up for through Creative Live. We would set up our kid’s toys around the room, exploring aperature, depth of focus, ISO, lighting and composition. It wasn’t too long after that Cam offered to join Courtney as an assistant/second shooter. He began with assisting only for weddings, but then eventually moved into being there for every session she was shooting.

This is where things started to really find their groove. We had the opportunity to work together, as best friends and a married couple, sharing in the special moments of peoples lives. We could each run with the parts of the business we were strongest at to make it the best we were able to. Together, we got to build into families and couples as we captured their memories. We got the unique opportunity to work together and constantly encourage, challenge, support, and care for one another as we did something that we loved.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Why Photography Matters

In our business, and in our hearts, it has never just been all about the images, or even about the idea of creating artwork. What mattered most to us was the relationships. Not only ours, but capturing and building into the relationships of couples or a family unit.

We had a unique opportunity to be invited in, to help people feel at ease, while freezing some of their most precious moments in time. Whether those happened to be iconic life moments like an engagement, wedding, newborn, etc., or even a random Thursday or seemingly regular season of life.

Every season is worth being captured.

Because for us it isn’t just about a photo. It’s about preserving something real.

A glance shared between newlyweds. A toddler’s curiosity or mischievous grin. The way a father tears up as he hugs his daughter on the morning of her wedding day. A grandpa who lovingly grins at his grandchildren when they tell him what they love most about him.

Photography gives us a chance to pause time. It allows us the opportunity to say, “This moment matters. I am going to save this for you.” And we have never stopped being in awe of being given that opportunity.

Time is so fleeting. Even moreso as we continue to grow up. The little ones don’t stay little for too long. Relationships change. People pass.

Capture the moments while you can.

Photograph the joy, pain, changes, emotions, goofiness, etc. Photograph the people that matter to you. Even if your hair, make-up, weight or outfit may not be “social media perfect- take them anyway. It has become increasingly more important to us to do this for our clients and for ourselves. To make sure that we cherish the moments and memories at every step of the journey.

Not meaning to be too heavy, but we know too well that we aren’t promised tomorrow. You never know when it will be the last time.

That’s why, even on wedding days, when the family formal photos can often be the bane of a photographer, it is actually such an amazing time for us. We don’t want to rush it. We want to celebrate each relationship and document these special connections.

As we have watched our own children grow far too quickly, we need to choose to be intentional to take photos of them. Even as photographers ourselves we try to make a habit of hiring out to other photographers every year or even just grabbing a quick snap with a smart phone.

We are firm believers that you need to also exist in photos. Take pictures not only of your kids, but you with your kids, you with your spouse, and also: just you.

And the advice we often give people (which may seem odd when you have a photography business) is: you don’t need to hire a photographer or even use a professional camera. After all, the best camera is the one that you have on you. The one that allows you to capture this exact moment in time.

That photograph may not win awards or may not stick to the “rule of thirds” or may even be blurry. But that blurry image of your loved one taken on your smart phone or point-and-shoot camera, may easily become one of your favourites because more than the quality of image- that is your person. That is a moment of your person, frozen in time.

With that being said, also make it a priority to get formal photos of your family and as a couple. We attempt to get professional photos of our family every year to continue to mark the ever-changing nature of our family and their growth year after year. As parents further along into this journey, we understand more the sentiment that “The days may be long, but the years are short.” Time flies at an alarming rate, soak it all up.

No bad hair day, bad mood, goofy smile, weight gain/loss or any other excuse should stop you from capturing these moments. Over the years, we have made it clear to our couples that we do not photograph perfection. We photograph the real, the raw, the messy, the imperfections. We are human after all!

There is so much beauty in the imperfect, in the ordinary, in the awkward. That’s what we are. To some extent, that’s what we all are.

Exist in photos and encourage your loved ones to do the same. Photography matters because people matter.

Because your children matter.

Because your spouse matters.

Because YOU matter.

Take a moment to make a new memory today.

xoxo

Cam & Courtney