Our Family – My Why 

I thought I would take a minute to introduce US. 

I am Heather – photographer and heart behind This is Photography here in Halifax Nova Scotia. 

My loves – Addy and Finn – are my joys. Gifts from heaven that I am thankful for (And exhausted by) every single day. 

This year didn’t go as planned.  

I think it would be fair to say for many, that the last two years didn’t go as planned. We have faced changes, uncertainties, questions with no answers. We are fatigued and emotionally exhausted. Our nervous systems have gone into overdrive – and stayed there…. 

We were doing our best to make the most of it and planned to do our annual family photos in th  fall. 

If you are joining me on the blog here for the first time- you may not know that we suddenly, and tragically, lost my father in October. 

I don’t want to brush over it as it’s the single hardest thing that I have endured so far in this life. But it’s not really the focus of this post. 

But you know what – I am going to follow where my broken heart is taking me – because I have always been pretty honest on here about what is really going on. 

On Thanksgiving I thought to myself “we always take family photos with Alex’s family – we should take one with my family” but I didn’t. I forgot a tripod and everyone was cozy and comfy – and then very full. So I didn’t. 

Actually when Alex and I left – to head to Cape Breton early the next morning –  we left the kids – and dad was laying down after having cooked us a feast. 

I didn’t take the picture – and I didn’t wake him up to say goodbye. 

There was no way for me to know that I would never see him again. 

There was no way for me to know that waking him up from his nap would be worth it. 

There was no way for me to know that that was the last chance we would have for a family photo. 

I am bawling here as I write this. But the thing is that we NEVER know.
We don’t know what’s coming in an hour, a week, a year. 
We only know what we have in front of us right now. But I have to tell you. This grief has felt unbearable at many moments. For many days. And even still. 

I regret not doing any of those things I mentioned. But I know that he knew how much we loved him that he loved us so very much. 

And why am I sharing this on my photography website?
Because guys, family photos are freaking important. I know that they don’t hold as much value to everyone as they do to me, but I don’t know anyone who regrets having photos of their loved ones. I only hear the stories wishing that they had more.

Getting photos with the people you love, is next level important to me, but I know I am not alone is that.

Take the 5 minutes to set up the timer on your phone, Hire a professional photographer like me, or use a  DSLR with settings that allow you to take interval photos – that’s what we did here on the beach where we wanted to take photos – of one of our favorite places – and we couldn’t find a local photographer available when we were there. 

So here’s what I used to do:

Set up a tripod – use the self timer – and RUN to the  photo every time. (still glad I have those ones though – just saying)

Now what I do? ??

I set up a tripod – focus – put the fam jam where I want them – do a test shot – then set up an interval timer. You can make different settings – but we do like an interval of 5 seconds 15 times and then it stops. We change locations and do it again. 

It means that we can interact, laugh, smile and blink and get a few photos of each pose before we head to another,  And it saves me from running back and forth. 
And then Alex and I took turns taking a few photos of each other with the kids. 

It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. 

And I guess that’s my point after my ramblings and feelings. 

We only get this one life – and we get to chose how we live it. 

And getting mediocre photos is better than no photos. 

And if you feel like you should do something, or it would be meaningful to do something, don’t be lazy like me. Don’t expect that everything will stay the same forever. 

Don’t think that the seemingly impossible and improbable won’t happen. 

Hug your people. Make things right if you can healthily do so. 

We aren’t promised tomorrow –  so we are doing our best to live today – even if we are still feeling lost and hurting an insane amount.

And I am sorry if that was all too heavy, but it was on my heart.