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It was July 2016. I had been married for six months and had recently moved six hundred miles away from my family and friends. In the first week in my new city, my grandpa Pop went to be with the Lord. He wasn’t just a grandpa. He was one of the kindest souls I had ever encountered. One of those people who just oozed the Holy Spirit. He loved our family so deeply.

As I was adjusting to life in this new city trying to find my new normal, I started decorating our house. I wanted to make it feel cozy, safe, a place of happiness. I came across a picture I had framed to hang on the wall. It was a photo of my grandpa and me right before I walked down the aisle on my wedding day. Pop had leaned over and kissed me on my cheek, and the photographer captured that moment perfectly. When I look at the photo I can feel his mustache stubble on my cheek. I can feel the anticipation of walking down the aisle. I can feel joy! As I hung that precious picture on my wall I thought to myself, “I want to do that for people. I want to give people photos that they can feel. A moment they can go back to. I want their photos to stir deep joy in their souls.”

I picked up a camera a few months later, took some pictures of one of my best friends and her husband, and I haven’t looked back.

My prayer in this journey is that every time you get a gallery of photos from me you feel the authenticity of the moments, your heart is stirred, and you treasure them forever.