I come from a long line of photographers.

My grandpa had a film camera, a darkroom, and six kids to assist him in his craft. Unsurprisingly, he passed on his love of documenting life through photographs to my mom and her siblings, who, in turn, passed that passion on to me.

As you might imagine, family reunions for us are basically nonstop photoshoots. Growing up, all of us cousins were thoroughly documented from every angle — something I loved as a child but cringed at as a teen.

Oftentimes, I would try to avoid the camera, blocking it with my hand or making goofy faces. All of which came back to haunt me in the form of handmade photo birthday cards later in life. These have become a family staple over the years, and I have to admit, as annoyed as I felt by those photos of me as a teen, I am beyond grateful now for all the family documentation. I have thousands of photos of all the people I love — unposed, unstyled, often unwashed (we camped a lot). The value of these to me is unmeasurable.

My grandma still lives in the house where she and my grandpa raised their six kids. It’s impossible to visit and not see how much she and my grandpa loved our family photos. They are everywhere; on every wall and surface, in boxes and in photo books, piled on shelves and stuffed into closets. They capture 80 years of love, laughter, and family. They’re the memories she gets to share with me, each time I visit.

Grandma always has new photos as well: pictures of her growing up on her family’s farm in North Dakota, candids from her and Grandpa’s old well-worn wedding album. She can turn family photos into I-spy games, as I try to spot my mom as a girl amidst the rest of her siblings. I could look through my grandma’s photos for hours, pouring over the history of my family and generations of love.

Of course now that I’m married, it’s not just my own family’s memories I get to enjoy. I love looking through my mother-in-law’s albums and seeing photos of my husband as a chubby baby. It’s fascinating to compare how he looked then with how he looks now. From blond, laughing child, to a teen of the early 2000s, sporting frosted tips and earrings. I look between these photos that capture his history, and the man before me today, and think about how special it is that I get to witness, in some small way, his life and journey through the years.

That chance to hold on to history and memories forever is what I want for the families I photograph. I would love to help you document your life of love through tangible photographs you can share across generations. And from there, I hope you’ll keep those memories close, in albums and wall art and prints, as my family does, so you can flip back through them as your family grows.