Beauty in Pain
This is not my typical blog post.
A couple weeks ago I captured a session that was so unique and beautiful that it's story just had to be shared.
In 2020 Katie started dating Taylor; he was handsome, smart, funny. They adored each other and it didn't take long for them to decide they wanted to spend their lives together. They started planning a wedding and a future.
On October 15, 2021, Taylor was tragically killed in a car accident.
The life they had planned together came crashing to a halt. Katie was grief stricken, but knew that God was with her, even in the midst of such pain.
As the months passed, Katie began the process of healing. She reached out to me earlier this year and asked about a doing a "grief session". She wanted a session that would celebrate Taylor's life, capture some of his mementos, and also grieve some of the lost moments they would never share. This was a new concept to me but as I began to prepare for this photoshoot I discovered that others have found healing and a unique way to grieve through similar "Grief Therapy" photoshoots.
As soon as we arrived on location for our session, Katie and I grabbed hands and prayed together. We asked God to bring healing through out time together and that His peace and comfort would walk with us through the day.
We captured these beautiful images at Waldenwoods Resort in Howell, MI where Katie and Taylor would have been married this summer. The session began with smiles as we captured some pictures with her puppy, Roan, the dog she got in Taylor's memory since they had talked about getting a dog together.
Katie and Taylor Katie also had created a backdrop tribute to Taylor, made up of so many love notes that they had written to each other. As she reread some of their love letters, tears welled up in her eyes. Tears welled up in my eyes as well. What amazed me about this experience for Katie, was that while she has gone through incredible pain and loss, she still has incredible hope in Jesus.
These pictures carried joy, beauty, pain, emotion, loss, and hope. And those are the moments and emotions that make up our lives. Moments of sadness and loss. And moments of joy and hope.
Thank you, Katie, for reminding me of the beauty in life and death and for giving me the honor of capturing these moments for you. So many people carry sadness; perhaps your story of hope in the midst of grief, can bring healing to someone else's heart as well.
