One of the things that I've realized as a photographer is that we have an ability to literally freeze time. The precise moment that is captured on film (or sensor) will never, ever, exist again. For sure, you might be able to recreate a similar scene, similar lighting or posing, but really and truthfully, that moment has passed.

For some things like product photography this statement is irrelevant, but for events like the first kiss at a wedding it is the very essence of the experience. It's for reasons like this that photography will, in many areas, remain immune to the "threat" of AI image generation to the artistic world. Sure, people will want an idealized capture, something that is artistic and emotional beyond what a simple cell phone can capture, but really they want to capture a moment in time that will never be experienced again - and that moment has to be real.

I recently heard that Rusty Ickes, a local venue owner, passed away last year. He had built a beautiful castle that was a place of worship and wedding venue, and a location that I was extremely fortunate to visit myself. I took my wife there as part of an anniversary weekend getaway for a photoshoot, and Rusty was gracious enough to let us rent the castle for ourselves! The cost of renting the place was the price of the experience, and looking back over the photos today I recalled the fun we had there celebrating our marriage and working together to create some beautiful images, like the one below. As I've got older, I've really come to value life experiences over buying "Stuff". Physical things can wear out, get broken, get lost. Physical things can be replaced. Experiences are often things that might never happen again, and the memories of having lived that experience will always be there, so long as we can remember.

Glamor shoot with my wife at Castle Otttis.

Glamor shot of my wife at Castle Otttis - unretouched digital capture using the Nikon D750, 85mm lens, and a diffuser filter on the lens.

And that is where photography comes in. If experiences really are more valuable than "Stuff", because they are irreplaceable and yet immutable, and the closest thing we have to our memory of the event is a visual capture of the experience, then the value of photography can be immense. In the case of our anniversary weekend, that photoshoot itself was the experience to capture - I am so very glad that we were able to visit the castle, get the tour from Rusty, and have the run of the place to ourselves. We were able to have an experience that will never, ever, be possible again - at least not in the way we had it happen to us.

It's not just large, significant events like a wedding that are experiences worth remembering and capturing - each of us has milestones in life that are worth celebrating, and each of us has a beauty and humanity that is worth capturing! The experience of a fun photoshoot celebrating yourself and your achievements, or the ability to capture your children at every stage of their lives, are things worthy of investment. I'm not saying that we should live life through the lens of a camera, but I am saying that I firmly believe our lives would be better if we spent less on "Stuff" on more on experiences, and the single best way to capture those experiences is with photography. In fact, the only "Stuff" that I would completely agree with buying, is physical prints of your photos ;-)

As we left the castle that day a couple drove up who had been married there a few years before. They offered on the spot to pay me to take photos of THEM inside, so they could relive and recreate the feeling of their own wedding day. They understood the importance and value of photography in celebrating and capturing moments in time. Drop me a line when you're ready to capture yours.