It’s the beginning of a new year and with that comes so many new opportunities! I’m a huge propionate for change and this year I decided to get on the ball and make some big changes here at Tatum Photo and Design. One of my new big goals for 2013 is to finally start my photography blog! I thought this first blog should kind of  be an introduction to me and why I do what I do. So here we go!

I wanted to start this blog off describing why I do what I do. And when I thought about how to describe this, the best I could come up with was the above image. This image was taken at during one of my first weddings as a professional photographer. I was nervous as all get out! I was told this was a very small and intimate wedding, just family. These two had both previously been married, so I thought “Oh, they just don’t want a big fuss.” I hadn’t met the couple yet, my services were arranged through the brides brother and with a couple of e-mails back and fourth. So I drove down to their family cabin and had no idea what I would experience that day.

When I finally met them, I was overwhelmed by their story. I was filled in here and there while the bride was getting her hair done. The groom sneaking peaks and adoring her from the doorway. It was all very adorable. After coming out of very difficult relationships, these two both were believing God for strong Godly mates, and man…did the Lord answer those prayers in spades.

I had never seen a couple so in love before in my life. The two of them had waited till after their wedding to be together, and the purity of their love was something I had never witnessed before with my own eyes. Their love was genuine. It wasn’t forced. They weren’t dreading the photos, because they barely even paid attention to me. They just threw themselves into the moment and each other and what I was able to capture was a true, honest moment of adoration that wasn’t posed, it wasn’t a joke…it was real.

That moment is exactly why I do what I do. Love is so beautiful and being able to capture it between two people is possibly the coolest job there is. I live and breath these moments. There is nothing cooler than showing a bride her photos and getting a “TATUM!! Those are so AWESOME!”  Being a photographer allows me the opportunity to be an artist telling the story of other peoples lives and I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else.