daddies and daughters...

I know that there will come a time when my two daughters will grow up, become little ladies, teenagers, and then women.  That is obviously a fact of life that I cannot deny.  It's just that, the moments when I realize it's happening in front of my eyes catch me so off guard!  For instance, this afternoon, Kyla (our almost six-year-old) and Avery (3.5) were watching the second half of The Sound of Music.  Movies like that are the norm around here.  It's a whole new world for me since my brother and I preferred more hard-hitting movies as kids like Waynes World and Police Academy. At any rate, I was fixing dinner in the next room while they were nearing the end of the movie and Kyla kept giving me the play-by-play of what was happening even though I've seen it already.  At first she was excited when the Captain was about the marry the Baroness.  Then she delighted in Maria's return from the Abby.  Nothing too surprising there.  But a few moments later, she said to me in a quivering, "Daddy, do you know why my voice sounds like this?  It's because I'm crying.  Did you know that the Captain is going to marry Maria?  I'm so excited for them."  Sure enough, her little eyes were red and tears were running down her cheeks!  She continued, "I've never cried because I was happy before."

There you have it.  My daughter cries because of love stories in movies.  Oh boy.  That one took me by surprise!  And I had that scene fresh in my mind when I went to edit some pictures from Jill and John's wedding this evening.  Whenever we shoot a wedding, I usually pay close attention to the father of the bride.  Of course, there are sometimes dramatic exchanges between a bride and her dad that make incredible emotion-driven images, but usually I'm watching to read how he is processing the day's events.  I often picture myself walking one of my girls down the aisle or dancing with them at the reception.  I have to keep it in check, though, so that I don't start boo-hooing behind the camera!   Wow, this post is getting really mushy all of a sudden!  Back to wedding photography...

Sarah always sticks with the bride before the ceremony to capture some of those emotional exchanges with her dad.  Truth be told, these are sometimes some of my favorite images from a wedding day.  All the stress of the planning and preparation is gone, the music has started, everyone is lined up, and usually all is calm.  It's just Daddy and Daughter one last time for just a brief moment...