3 Reasons to Photograph Life Transitions

Promotions, divorce, weight loss, starting a new career path, reinventing yourself, reaching milestones—are you sensing a theme? 

Yes, transitions! So many of my clients come to me in periods of transition and it has me thinking. What about transitions is so powerful to us? Why are we so compelled to invest in documenting these moments? I’ve had the opportunity to witness so many beautiful moments in my studio simply by listening to my clients’ stories. From these stories, I’ve come up with 3 possible reasons we are so compelled to photograph life’s transitions. 

1. To reflect on major life events

Taking time and money to do a photoshoot after a season of change is a great way to take a step back and truly appreciate where you are in life now, where you’ve been and where you want to go. Life is so busy that we often forget to truly acknowledge and appreciate these moments for what they are: beautiful. I love capturing the human experience in a way that empowers people to be their best selves and to appreciate the failures and flaws that make them who they are in the present. Life is wonderfully complex and photography gives us time to understand the value of our experiences and document them.

2. To provide evidence of defining moments

If you’ve worked with me, you’ve probably heard me say, “photography is evidence we exist in this world.” Once we’re gone and our loved ones are gone, one way our story persists is through photography. The same applies to transformative life events—the moments that truly define us. Without evidence of those pivotal moments, who is really to say they actually happened? That’s why we invest in documenting our transitions, to preserve the moments that matter most to us.

3. To inspire our future selves

Have you ever looked back at an old photo and thought, “Wow, I can’t believe I was able to do that!” or “I was so confident in my own skin back then! What happened?” Life throws us challenges and sometimes we need reminders that we are strong enough to surpass those challenges, that we are valued, and that we are beautiful. Every wrinkle is beautiful, every scar is beautiful, you are beautiful.  I know now from seeing it over and over that when a woman holds an image of herself standing in her own personal power, looking gorgeous that has a ripple effect in her life; not only empowering her but giving others that see it permission to do the same. That is impactful.

I think there is so much opportunity to be motivated by our past selves. Documenting transitions through photography gives us perspective and something to look back at when we need inspiration. We can pick up an old photo and understand that the person looking back from the image is the same person we are today—we, like our past selves, are resilient, strong and fully capable of doing whatever we set our hearts and minds to.  

Curious about photographing a transition in your life?