I have always been a recorder. I have always kept a journal, taken photographs, made scrapbooks, collected mementoes.
For as long as I can remember, I have had a pull, a deep desire to catalog my life - to write things down and to have a record of where I went, what I felt. Of who I am.
In some way this has been in service of generating proof that I WAS HERE. That doing this proves my existence, my purpose and the reason that I am still alive in the face of ridiculous odds.
In a way then, it makes perfect sense that I would feel just as compelled to create a business that is about the documentation of everyday life and the joy and beauty that such an act brings.
As a parent this sense of feeling compelled to document life goes even deeper. When you become a parent, you begin to think about legacy. You ask what will our children think of this. How will they know us?
How will they know their history?
We begin to think, as parents, about what can we do to help our children understand who we are and, in a similar way, who they are.
How will our children remember their lives if their moments, if these memories we build, are not documented?
As a parent, I believe it is part of our job, part of our responsibility to document our children’s lives, to show them who they were before they even were old enough to have their own memories.
My father was (and still is) an avid photographer. Most major childhood events in our lives are documented with many beautiful pictures. To this day, my father loves recording his travels and creating a travelogue. He enjoys taking candid shots of our family whenever we are all together. This hobby of his provides us with proof of our journey, and also of our love for each other.
It is important and soothing and meaningful.
I feel compelled to document my life and my family’s, as a result of the model my father has given me for tracking our journey. This desire is not unique to us. It is universal.
The way that Portraits that Move is able to provide this kind of documentation, our process and the film we create for you, is unique, and memorable and beautiful. More importantly, it is my honor, it is an obligation I have taken on and take seriously, to help families record their existence together. To prove they were here, too, and to do so with love.
See some of the documentaries we have created for families and learn about what the experience has been like for moms, dads and kids, to go through the process of creating a family documentary with Portraits that Move.