Before my life as a photographer, I worked at an art gallery.  A very beautiful art gallery.   Some of the finest art in the world would pass through our space on any given day and every time I looked at it…I couldn’t help but be swept up in the splendor of it all.

I remember sitting in a staff meeting one day and discussing the final logistics of a exhibition opening when a colleague gently reminded us “not to get too stressed out about it…it’s not like we are saving lives here”!  And it’s true – technically speaking – we weren’t performing heart surgery or rescuing someone from a burning building.  But I would definitely be hesitant to say that art doesn’t save lives.

Life as a whole, is perhaps the most beautiful work of art there is.  A gorgeous landscape of colour and light…a beautiful soundtrack with which to live out the adventure…the script of your choosing to follow along with.  Life…is art.  And when you walk into a museum…go to the theatre…listen to a concert…or read an amazing book…it can – in fact – bring you back to life.  It can make a broken heart start beating again or help a lost soul find its way.  I think it’s because art always brings us back to a truer version of ourselves…the self that we were always meant to be.  Art reaches a part of us that nothing else can…a part of our spirits that were meant to create…the part of ourselves that were meant to be casts as the lead role in a life full of beauty.

In that sense, art is a lot like love.  It’s passionate…instinctive…and it very much, saves lives.

When I get to work with other artists, I am reminded so much of why the world truly needs art.  Because without art…you lack the people who create art.  And those people are intense…beautiful…romantic.  Those people see the world a little bit differently.  And there are times when the world absolutely needs to be seen differently.

To experience Erin and Chris‘ wedding was to be in the presence of everything I love about art.  The emotion…the longing…the desire for something beautiful.  From the intimacy of their ceremony {held – of course – in an art gallery!} to the subtleties of their details…their day was inspiring.

Their day was a perfect reminder that with art and with love…everything is more beautiful…