Why we care about photography

Many people don’t care about photography. Charles and I did not for a long time. We were happy with our point-and-shoot cameras before smartphones came along, and we would have been content with smartphone photos if photography hadn’t become a passion for us after the birth of our children.

Reading an article called “5 brides share their financial wedding regrets (hint: don’t skimp on the photographer)” brought me back to almost ten years ago, around the time when Charles and I got engaged.

Charles was still in graduate school, and I didn’t want an engagement ring or an elaborate affair. I bought a plain white dress for under $50, and his suit was a dark green one that we decided would be useful for doing double duty later during job interviews. It’s still the only suit he owns.

My mother-in-law was happy to take some photos of us, which we used in our wedding announcements.

On our wedding day, we went to the city courthouse, exchanged vows, signed our marriage license, and my in-laws took photos of us with their point-and-shoot cameras.

That’s probably the best photo of just the two of us on our wedding day—taken in front of the women’s restroom at the courthouse, with a line of people at the drinking fountain. How romantic.

I don’t regret not having a big wedding, because we saved up for our house down payment instead. I do regret not getting professional photos done of us in a pretty outdoor place. It would have probably only cost a few hundred since it wouldn’t have been a full wedding event.

Now we regularly spend thousands on camera gear to take cherished photos for ourselves and others, but it would have been nice to get good professional photos of our wedding day.

I also often wish I had better photos of our older son when he was a newborn. We did well enough with our Sony RX100, but it was before we learned more about the art of photography.

I love the photo I took of Charles and our younger son two years later, with quite a bit better equipment and more knowledge about photography:

With more years of experience and practice, we have grown to take photos that we are proud to share with others.

For important life events, we recommend that you don’t skimp on photography. You’ll never get those precious moments back. Our experience has led us to learn how to take those photos for ourselves. We love to take photos that will be cherished by others, too.