Kimberly is my sister in law, I married her brother when she was 4 years old. I’ve watched her grow up, pulled her teeth, babysat her, cried with her, let her kidnap my children for road trips, face painting, game and movie nights, helped her redecorate, paint, move, had numerous heart to heart conversations and depended on her for just about everything.

If I need a helping hand, there is Kim. If I need someone to help me think it through, there is Kim. If I need someone to hold me together as we work to pull something together, there is Kim. I loved being a stay at home mom, but when my youngest was 10 years old I had to go to work. It was really hard on me to leave the children at home. The oldest was 17 and they were great kids, very responsible and they looked out for each other, but that’s not the same as having a mom. Kim is a school teacher and so her schedule was similar to the kids. She provided rides, activities, moral support and whatever else was needed when I couldn’t be there. During the summer breaks she took them on vacations, some simple, some the trip of a life time. She has always been there for me and for them and it meant the world to me.

We have an easy, simple relationship. We are able to talk openly, accept easily whatever the other has to give or needs, we overlook faults. The relationship is important, if it’s important you take the time to make it good.

One of the things that comes with this relationship is trust. Have you ever considered needing to trust your photographer? Now luckily Kim is a talented photographer, she has a good eye, she can consider content and contrast and composition quickly and make it all work. However for my family the fact that she knows us, that we trust her, that she knows how to make us comfortable and get the best from us gives us the best possible pictures.

I never think of having wedding pictures taken without wanting Kim to take them. I never think of a family portrait taken without wanting Kim to take it. We have had professional pictures taken and they are fine, some even good, but they don’t look like us and they don’t feel natural. Kim does all that for us. So we have her take all the pictures we can get away with her taking and I love them all. We aren’t a family that is very formal, I don’t worry about the perfect outfits or whether a baby is crying, I just want us to look like us and capture the memories. Kim does all that for us.

The down side of her taking all the pictures is that she’s not in very many of them. I don’t think she worries about that too much, but I have become increasingly aware that she needs to be in the pictures, included in the printed history of the family. So we try! Recently at Emma’s wedding, with the camera in the hands of Kim’s friend, a great picture was taken of Kim, purely by chance. So my favorite family photographer has a very nice picture of her own. Thanks for the memories, the time, the work, the selfless gift of you! We love you.