Our words for 2016

 

Last time we wrote, we looked back at our goals for 2015.  It always feels like a fresh page magically appears after we take one last assessment of the previous year. And so, now it’s time to lay direction to 2016, and this year ahead of us. What do we want to accomplish? What do we want to focus on? What will we decide matters most? This year, we don’t want to write the same “goals” over and over. No resolutions, no benchmarks to reach. No “this year we want to be on the cover of Martha Stewart Weddings” or “we want to speak at WPPI”. No, not this year.

There is something bigger going on around us. There are more important things happening, and those narrow goals can sometimes distract us from our purpose. Wedding photography is a luxury, there’s no doubt about it. No one couple needs to hire a professional photographer in order to start their marriage and begin a life together. No. But goodness, how amazing is it to know that with photos, these moments can be preserved? This day, this first page of the first chapter of the story that started everything… is remembered through photos and we get to do that. For us, that’s what 2016 is going to be about.

We believe in storytelling. We believe in connecting generations through photos. We believe in preserving life’s fleeting moments, not for you, but for those who are to follow. Your story will be a part of their story. This, right now, is the beginning of everything.

And so what we’re trying to say, is that our goal for 2016 isn’t some arbitrary accomplishment that everyone else defines as “successful”. Our desire for 2016 is to maintain a sense of reverence for the work we are privileged to do. To never lost sight of our role in the lives of the couples who trust us to document their story. To be mindful, present, and respectful of the monumental, tiny little moments going on around us.

So, no more goal lists. Instead, words. Words to define where we want to go in 2016, what we want to achieve, what we must remember throughout the year. We couldn’t choose just one (because… well you know how terrible we are at making decisions). So we have two. Here are our words for 2016…

 

CULTIVATE

“to foster the growth of… to improve by labor, care or study”

This year as photographers, as creatives, and as business owners we want to cultivate so many things. Here’s a little list…

joy

kindness

laughter

empathy

relationships

knowledge

gratitude

creativity

love

connections

ABIDE

“to endure without yielding… to continue in a place”

An old black and white picture, torn edges and folded corners, at the bottom of a shoebox. Pick it up, hold it in your hands, and look into the faces of the people who are no longer here. The ones who went before you. The people who wrote the first chapters of your story. See them, remember them. There they wait. There, in that photo, their memory endures, without yielding. They will continue in that place, in your heart, in your memories, until the universe connects you once again.

This is why we take pictures.

Here’s to 2016.