Rob and Lauren Blog

Wow, this is truly somewhere I never expected us to be, but all of a sudden we find ourselves at the beginning of this project, and it seems like the perfect place.

Before I get going, I’ll warn you that this might be a long post. But I strongly urge you to read it all through, since there are contests and giveways involved :)

On Thursday we went out to Pigeon Lake to do a family session. We expected nothing out of the ordinary, but instead walked away with buckets and buckets of inspiration.

You see, this family session was scheduled to start with a few portraits of the grandparents. Typically we would end up shooting these portraits in front of everyone else, and have about 5 minutes to do them. That’s when you default to very stiff, formal posing. Not too fun. But we were left alone with these two wonderful people, and given half an hour to create some images.

I’ll be totally honest, I was so nervous! This was something I’d never done before; posing an elderly couple. But instead of trying to change my approach because of their age, I just did exactly what I do when I pose one of our wedding couples. I asked them to snuggle, to kiss, to look at each other. I asked them questions about their wedding, their marriage, and just enjoyed chatting with them. When we came home a few hours later, after spending the rest of the evening with their kids and grandkids, we took a quick peek at the images. I sat there and was just stunned. Let’s let the images do the talking for a little bit…

 These two have been married for 44 years and are truly truly in love. When we realized the importance of that, that’s really when this project started.

 I asked them what their “secret” was to such a long and happy marriage. She paused, thought about it, and gave me such a simple and poignant answer. “Stay alive”. Loving for these two is easier than breathing.

Rob asked her if her husband was still as good looking as when they got married. She replied “He’s even more handsome than on our wedding day”.

This one almost reduces me to tears every time I see it. I mean, think about it. 44 years. That’s almost twice as long as my whole lifetime, and they still cuddle and snuggle and kiss and just truly enjoy being around each other. Their connection has grown stronger since they were married, and we want so much to be able to capture that.

I want to share a couple sentences from an email I received from their daughter when I shared one of these images with her, and told her of this project:

What you captured in that picture, is what I’ve grown up with all of my life—that love…that connection that was there on their wedding day and has just grown stronger and stronger and stronger through the years.  They have always expressed their love with deep affection…growing up on the farm, it was never a surprise to see him hugging her in the kitchen or her sneaking a long kiss from him out in the barn.  We got used to it, and that was our version of “normal”…

When you photograph a couple on their wedding day, you photograph the beginning of hopes and dreams.
 
When you photographed my parents 44 years after their wedding day…you photographed the fulfillment of hopes and dreams that went beyond the scope of anything they could have imagined on that wedding day…it’s definately an inspiration to those who follow in their footsteps.

And now finally, the project. We think it’s so important for this amazing and lasting love to be documented. It’s a cheesy parallel, but it’s like fine wine. Love gets better with time. Thus the name: Aged Love. Love that has time to settle and grow and sort itself out. We want to shoot these couples, talk with them, understand their life together, and create some real, natural and beautiful images that show that strong connection between them! At a time like this, when divorce rates are frighteningly high, I think couples like these two are such an incredible inspiration for all the young ones like ourselves. Who knows, we may even create a short film with all their advice!

Contest:

To kick off this project, we’re holding a wonderful contest. We want our readers to write in and tell us about their parents’ or grandparents’ love story (we’re looking for the age group of 60+, but we’re flexible). If possible, you can also include a photo of them so we can put faces to names!

Our favourite entry will win a free Aged Love session from us (valued at $500), which includes half an hour of shooting, all the edited files on a disc, and a print collection of our favorite images. At this time the winners will have to be from Edmonton (or the surrounding area) but hopefully we will expand this project to include the whole world!

So send in your entry to love [at] robandlauren [dot] ca. You have a week to send me the stories, and then we’ll announce the winner! It doesn’t need to be long, just a short little outline of their lives together. I can’t wait to hear these amazing stories!

Do let us know what you think of our new personal project! We’re so excited about it, and truly think it’s such a wonderful way to spend our time, learning from these couples, and creating such beautiful images of them! The beauty has very little to do with our photographic skills, and everything to do with the honest love just eminating from them.

Ok, I’ll leave it there for now. But send me your stories!! Right now!

Tons o’ love,

Lauren :)