I want to say that I noticed for the first time around eight and half years in.  I was looking for a specific photo of our family when I noticed that we didn’t have any of just the two of us anymore.  At first I thought it was just an oversight on my part…but the more I searched, I more I realized that I wasn’t missing anything at all.  Except a photo of just my husband and I.

The wife side of me gets it; life happens.  It gets busy, it gets expensive, it gets full of other things that need our time and attention.  But the photographer side of me cringed at the thought; the thought that I could let (wait for it…) nine years go by without having a photo taken of the two of us.  And that’s how long it was; nine years.  Sure, we had the odd selfie while traveling or a quick snap taken in passing at a family wedding, but they were immensely few and far between.

So, for our tenth wedding anniversary, I brought an end to our photographic dry spell…and honestly, they are some of my most favourite photos ever.  We are happy and undistracted and we were us, ten years later.

These sessions have quickly become some of my most favourite sessions to photograph because there will always be a reason not to do it.  And in their own way, all of those reasons are valid.  But more than any of the reasons not to do it, lies one incredibly important reason why we should do it.  Because it matters.  Because who we are in this moment matters.  Because what we’ve been through matters.  Because these lives that we walk, side by side, matter.

And so does taking an hour to capture it.

Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Shanna and Jeff.  Just them…nine years later…