Rosemary Beach, Florida, Photographer

The Lawford’s were celebrating their anniversary in Rosemary Beach, Florida and choose me as their photographer to document the occasion. We had a blast walking the streets of Rosemary which is so very picturesque and a fabulous area for portraits and then we hit the beach for some more wet sandy fun. As you can tell from the images, we really did have fun. These two are so adorable together and don’t mind having fun at each others expense, all good naturally of course. Thank you Claire for choosing me to document your special occasion, I hope to see you two again in the future.

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As I sit here today, knowing that I have a million things to do, I just can’t get motivated to do anything. I am sad. My great-grandmother’s birthday is approaching and I miss her. She has be gone for over 20 years and as I get older, I miss her more and more everyday. With every milestone I reach in my life and the milestones my children reach, I miss her. She was an amazing woman. She grew up during the Great Depression and was a very frugal woman who taught us that “money did not grow on trees”. She taught us that everyday was a blessing and that what ever was given to us, could just as easily be taken away. I was so very blessed that as a child she lived right next door to me. As soon as I got home from school everyday, I ran straight to her house to tell her about my day or to find out what she did that day. When other children were begging to sleep over at a friends house, I was begging to sleep at Granny’s house. I knew that she would make me some bread pudding or peanut butter taffy or teacakes. She grew up poor and often went hungry  and because of that always made sure that she cooked something for us to eat everyday. She was always in her kitchen cooking and she taught me how to cook even before I could reach the stove. She taught me to love The Lord and always give thanks and how to be thankful. I have tons of recipes in a box that she handed down to me, but I only have one photograph. One single snapshot of by beloved Granny. I don’t know why I didn’t take more, I guess I was so busy just living life and glorifying in her love, that I really forgot the one lesson that she was always trying to instill in us. Everything that is given, can be taken away. I though she would always be with me. And  then she was taken away from me and I now have only a single snapshot to remember her by. My two sons never got to meet her and my daughter was so young when she passed that she doesn’t remember meeting her. This wonderful women who taught me so much and loved me so unconditionally is always remembered in our family and spoken of with great love, happiness and memories, but that’s all we have now. Memories and one snapshot. So as I sit here typing this  and  yes, crying because even after 20 plus years, I still have this whole in my heart and a deep sadness that my children will never know that love of my Granny that I did and I miss her. I have hundreds of pictures of my children. I will never have to sit and think that I should have taken more pictures of them. I have every age, every milestone, every play, every graduation, baseball game, soccer game, you name it and I have it documented. However I haven’t been as diligent with my other family members. I am flipping through my albums and realizing that some of the most important people in my life, including myself, are not documented as they should be, but that is about to change today. We tend to put things off and think that other things are more important and we forget that very important life lesson that my Granny tired to teach us, “whatever is given, can be taken away”.  I get so many calls and emails from people who want to have their families or their children photographed and so many tell me, “Oh, I didn’t know it would cost that much!” Some of these same people are walking around with $200 Coach purses or wearing $300 outfits or driving $50,000 automobiles and flying off to exotic vacations. People don’t seem to value memories anymore. I can tell you, I would give my last dollar to have more than one snapshot of my Granny. She was my everything but I didn’t value her enough to photograph her more often. I thought she would always be with me and now she is gone. So my life lesson to everyone today is, take more photographs! Place value on your memories and your loved ones. In years to come, are your children or grandchildren going to care what car you drove, what brand of clothes you wore? NO, they are going to want to know what they and you looked like. They will want to open an album and reminisce about when that photograph was taken and how much fun they had. So what I am trying to say is, don’t be like me, don’t sit at your desk with you grandmother’s birthday approaching, crying because you have one single photograph to remember her by. Life is short, no one is promised a tomorrow and anything that is given, can be taken away. Document your family. Don’t devalue the work of a photographer, they are preserving your memories. Happy birthday Granny, we love and miss you so very much. Please forgive the conditions of the image below, you see it is very old and just a snap shot from a little 100 film camera but it is the most precious image to me. It’s the only snapshot I have of my Granny and my little girl who is now grown and has a little girl of her own who will never know how much my Granny would have loved her. I hope that my little granddaughter will love me as much as I loved my Granny.

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Destin Beach Photography

People come from all over the world to vacation on the beautiful beaches of Destin and what better way to remember your family vacation, than with beach portraits. The R Family came down from Colorado to enjoy of beautiful beaches and we had a blast out at the Jetties capturing their family. We are booking up fast for summer beach sessions, so once you have your vacation planned, give us a call to schedule your session and let us capture your memories.

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