Life Story Shoot

I have such a special place in my heart for story shoots. Every shoot I do, I am looking for the best way to reveal and document the heart of what’s being communicated… an authentic look at the people involved. Story shoots get directly to the heart of that. 

Elizabeth is a newer friend of mine, but my goodness our friendship quickly turned into a deep one. The way that Elizabeth opened up the door to their story as we collaborated for this story shoot created pure magic. There was a point in the shoot that I was moved to tears witnessing Elizabeth move from talking about a dark part of their story, to talking about their own strength, resilience and peace with their current self. 

Words from Elizabeth: “People need rituals. We need rhythms and routines for our daily lives, yes, but we need something to mark the changing of our lives. We have weddings, baby showers, baptisms, we have funerals, graduation celebrations, and birthday parties….but what about everything else? What about separations and divorces and job losses and job gains and partnership anniversaries and break-ups and moving and everything else?

The last couple years have brought a ton of change to my life. A lot of that might typically be seen as loss. I got divorced, I had to move away from my dream home, I came out as queer, I left my old church, and in the process lost a lot of people and community I would have said were forever. I have felt like Eustace Scrubb who was turned into a dragon in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis, struggling to shed skin after skin until he finally finds his true best self at the root of all the mess. It’s hard to look back sometime and think of who I used to be as me, but it was, and I felt a need to mark that for myself.

So Ashley and I walked into the woods on a path I pretend is secret to my favorite place in my town. I climbed trees, I worked on building a fort, I swam in the lake. I told my story to Ashley and I cried and laughed while she took pictures of me. I let myself stay open and vulnerable as she took pictures of me being myself. I look at those beautifully captured photos now and can see what I was feeling and experiencing in that season fresh on my face. I treasure them like I haven’t any other photos. I look at them and see how beautiful showing up in the fullness of who I am truly is. And, maybe most importantly, I can mark the passing of a long season of my life and the beginning of a whole new one.”