Touch

This is my brother Mike's family and I had the honor of capturing a moment of their life while I was in AK. They wanted to just get a Christmas card shot, and I was hell-bent on giving them more then that. What will I take from this shoot?....more then they will ever know. I know that their kids were ecstatic to see their parents kiss. They are normally very private people and they let all their guards down with me....that's an amazing feeling to take a peek into your own brother's soul and the beautiful life he has created for his family. He is so proud of his family and they are everything to him. This shoot was so much more to me because they are family and there were so many emotions involved from me and from them. I cried with them when they look at the final images (and I took pictures of them crying!). I wish I would have done sessions for all my family members, but time was cut short on our visit. I am blessed everyday that I get to see a piece of my clients intimate life, but being able to see into my own family was an unexpected blessing. It put in perspective for me that perfect strangers are trusting me with moments that even my own blood struggled to get comfortable with... to be able to show me....a kiss that is usually only behind closed doors....a brother and sister's hug that hasn't happened forever because coolness gets in the way of touching...and kids excited to see their parents snuggle. I think that as a society we don't touch as much as we should. We have built bubbles around ourselves and sometimes the bubble gets strong enough that we struggle to even have loved ones come in. We need to remember that touching can be healing and it can fix things in our lives that we sometimes see as irreparable. Remember to love and to touch!