Tempe, AZ Family Photographer: The Importance of Preserving Your Family Legacy

In case you haven’t noticed yet we humans are a fragile race. We are prone to sickness and death and earthly hurts of all kinds. Life is short some say, and they aren’t wrong. We really just don’t know what tomorrow holds.

“WOW! That’s deep and dark Shannon, I’mma check out right now.”

Ok, wait wait…you’re right. I started off like a bit of a Debbie Downer but let me turn things around before you leave. What I want to talk about today is the importance of preserving your family legacy. I want to start with two short personal stories on the topic.

My step-father was the man who raised me as his own. You would never have known that we weren’t blood related, he and I were two peas in a pod. I loved him and he loved me as his daughter. I was immensely blessed by him. In 8/2009 he received a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. Myself and my husband and 14 month old son flew home to be with him. He still looked like my Bill and we spent the weekend together gathering up more memories. Two weeks later he took a turn for the worse and within 5 months he was gone. And just like that my children have either no memory of him or were never able to meet him. I have a handful of candid pictures of him with my son.

The second story is much more recent. My aunt passed away last week in a tragic car accident. Yesterday I read her obituary and was taken aback by the photo that was used. It had to have been from 1978! She was young and beautiful but since then she had lived a full life with a husband of 40+ years, 2 sons, and 3 grandchildren. Was there every any record of her life lived with them? An intentional one anyway?

I can’t stress the importance of capturing your family in an intentional way, and by that I mean hiring a professional photographer to get you all in the picture together.

This summer I had a woman reach out to me about an extended family session. Her brother in law and his girlfriend would be in town as well as her mother in law all at the same time to celebrate her daughter’s 5th birthday. It was the first time they would see each other since pre-Covid and it was during the time of Covid that her mother in law had received a diagnosis that would slowly chip away at her health in the years to come. This was THE time to get everyone in the picture and capture all the memories.

It’s hard to believe but we’re more than half way through with 2022. It may be hard to think that the holidays are just around the corner but, my friends, they are! I know that many of you will have extended family in from out of town. This year, instead of another sweater or trinket or Amazon gift card, I’d ask that you consider giving your family the gift of an extended family session with a photographer (Ahem…ME!). I guarantee that an hour spent laughing and snuggling each other will be far more memorable than any gift that can be tucked away in a drawer. And it’s the gift that keeps on giving…after the session and all the fun of being together you receive a gallery and can relive it over again and then you can print and hang those beauties on the wall and then you can remember it and talk about those memories every time you walk by them in the hall. Truly the gift that keeps on giving!!

Your story is important, your people are important! Preserving your legacy is worth the investment…promise.

All My Love,