I’d like to introduce my first guest blog post by Shelly Colvin of Shelly Colvin Photography.  You might remember seeing her parents’ very special and meant to be Beloved session in January.  This spring, Shelly and her husband Mike had their own Beloved session, and Shelly has this to say about it.

I had first heard about Beloved almost a year ago through another photographer–somehow, I tucked it away in my mind that I thought it was interesting but never did much more with the idea.  It was when we were hit with the bad news about my dad’s cancer that I knew I wanted to give my parents the gift of a Beloved session.  Seeing their experience and the emotions that came from the session, I knew that I wanted to experience this with my husband. 

I love images that tell a story–not the ones where you can see the tense, posed “look-here-and-smile” pictures.  I love how Beloved somehow captures the love between people–definitely unlike any other pictures I’ve looked at.  I wanted to have a great time with my husband and have images that captured us at this stage in our lives.

I knew that our Beloved session would be unlike any other session I’ve been a part of.  I really went into it trusting Jen and knowing that she would do and awesome job, and all Mike and I had to do was to relax and have fun!  It was simply a time for my husband and I to connect and for that connection to be captured in pictures.

Beforehand, my husband questioned, “Do we really need to do this?”  But he knew this was my thing and that I wanted this experience .  He was a great sport and went along with it without a lot of questions asked.  Part of my surprise from our Beloved session was how emotional Mike was.  I know he may have a softer side than myself, but it still shocked me how he showed this during our session.  The tears and laughter throughout our session really told me how he felt!  I was most surprised  at how natural our smiles and laughs were.  Beloved really allowed for our true selves to shine.

There were so many things we loved about our Beloved session–the relaxing ease of having our pictures taken.  The invites and questions asked really made us think about US and not about having our pictures taken.  We don’t do many date nights since having our son two and a half years ago, so it was really great spending one on one time with Mike.

I really think everyone should have images like these to capture their love for a lifetime.  Life’s too short and so many things can hapen.  I am so thankful to have taken the time to stop and smell the roses during our busy lives.

We love our final products  We feel like they are an intimate part of us and plan on really showcasing them in our bedroom.  Beyond that, I would love to see our album passed generations down as I know I would definitely cherish an album of my grandparents like this!  Everyone who has seen our products and images loves them.  In fact, one of the funnier comments I got was that “they are like the pictures of couples that come in picture frames–you know, the ones you are supposed to take out and replace with your own pictures”!!

Wow.  Thanks Shelly.

xoxo