“We got this, babe.”
Of all the things Al and Dawn told us after their portraits were finished and living in their home, those four words may be our favorite. Because they weren’t really talking about their portraits. They were talking about their marriage.
It Started With a Conversation
Long before Al and Dawn were standing in front of our camera, we started getting to know them. We talked about their marriage, their children, how long they had been together and the history they had built along the way.
Those conversations are one of the most important parts of what we do at Strauss Peyton.
Al remembers Beth sharing some of the things Dawn had said about him during their Portrait Planning Calls. Sometimes he laughed and sometimes he cried as the conversation brought back memories of their life together.
And he had his own reaction. He’ll readily admit that portraits aren’t exactly his cup of tea. But those conversations got him excited about what they were going to create together.
And that’s the point.
We aren’t asking questions simply because we want to know what everyone should wear or what poses you want. We want to know what makes the people you love your people.
What does she do that still makes you laugh? What do you admire about him? What have you made it through together? What is happening in your family right now that you know you’re going to miss someday?
Because once we understand some of those things, we’re no longer creating from what you look like.
We’re creating from who you are together.
And Then There Was Taco Bell and Boxed Wine
This is also where we should probably clarify that meaningful does not have to mean serious.
Al and Dawn dressed up. They looked fantastic. And then Dawn ate a Taco Bell taco. Ever the helpful husband, Al demonstrated a particularly sophisticated method of pouring boxed wine to enjoy with the experience. And at some point Dawn took Al by his undone tie and pulled him in for a kiss.
There was laughter. There was flirting. There was silliness. There was them which was what we wanted.
Al and Dawn later described portrait day as relaxing and exciting. They said they never felt stressed and felt completely free to be silly and have fun.
And Al? The guy who told us this wasn’t really his cup of tea?
“It was a blast.”
A Portrait Should Be More Than What Someone Looks Like
We live in a world with more photographs of the people we love than any generation before us.
Thousands of them.
They’re in our phones. They’re buried somewhere in the camera roll between a screenshot of something we meant to buy, a picture of the dog doing something ridiculous and seventeen nearly identical photographs we took trying to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.
And we’re glad we have them but that’s not what we’re trying to create here at the studio. A portrait can show you what someone looked like.
Portrait art should remind you what it felt like to love them.
That’s a much taller order.
It means we have to know something about you before we ever pick up the camera. It means we’re watching for more than a flattering expression. We’re looking for the little things between people. The way you laugh together. The way he looks at you. The way your child reaches for you without thinking. The personality everyone in the family recognizes instantly.
Those are the things that turn an image from a record of what someone looked like into a reminder of who they are to you.
And Then They Saw It
When Al and Dawn saw their portraits, something shifted. They weren’t simply looking at beautiful photographs of themselves. They were looking at their marriage.
Dawn talked about the highs and lows that come with sharing a life with someone. The struggles. The years. How far they had come and how proud she felt of what they had accomplished together.
At one point she described the experience as being “like therapy.”
Their album came out with family and there were more tears. Their daughter cried when she saw it. Al had seen the portraits when they selected their favorites, but he hadn’t seen them since.
Then he held the finished album in his hands.
And he cried.
The portraits hadn’t changed. But something had.
They were no longer images Al and Dawn had seen on a screen at Strauss Peyton. They were theirs. Finished, tangible and now part of their home and their everyday life.
And that’s where this story becomes our favorite.
“We Got This, Babe.”
Al told us that marriage isn’t perfect. Sometimes Dawn is upset with him. Sometimes he’s upset with her.
That’s marriage.
But now their portraits are there.
He said that in those moments, it’s pretty easy to take a peek at the pictures on the wall or in their book and forget that feeling for a minute.
Dawn laughed and said that when she’s mad at him, she’s sure she’ll look up there and think: “We got this.”
“We got this, babe.”
And there it is. That is what we hope a portrait can become. Not simply proof of what you looked like at a particular moment in your life.
A reminder. Of the person you chose. Of the family you’ve built.
Of the kid who used to fit in your lap. Of the dog who followed you from room to room. Of the ridiculous things that make you laugh. Of everything you’ve weathered together. Of what all of these people mean to you.
Maybe that’s also why we love creating portraits with impact. When something holds that much love, it deserves more than a little space on the wall.
We joke that, given the opportunity, we’d probably wallpaper your house in the people you love.
But honestly? There are worse things to surround yourself with.
The best portraits don’t simply show us what the people we love look like. They remind us what they mean to us.
