A 50th Wedding Anniversary Afternoon Summer Celebration | Sally and Arnie gather with their family at their Wolfe Island home
Today, I'm going to bring you one of two stories of Wolfe Island families who invited me into their lives last summer.
Wolfe island is a pretty magical place, and as I've learned, there is a long and rich history to it.
Another thing I've learned about Wolfe Island, is that there are the “Islanders”, and then there’s everybody else.
You might have lived on the island for 10, 20 or even more years, but unless you, your parents, and your grandparents was all born on the island, you're probably not really considered an “Islander.” (Right? Islanders, help me out here!)
That doesn't mean you can't have an absolutely amazing experience living there, mind you. Even if you move there later on in life, like Sally and Arnie - the matriarch and patriarch of this family.
As I've learned, and I'm about to show you, Sally and Arnie's children and their families visit spend long stretches in the summers, staying with their parents at their house on Wolfe Island. They get to enjoy all their favourite activities, like canoeing, hanging out on the beach, and looking out of the water.
For all intents and purposes, they look and act like true Islanders. I vote they be voted IN. :)
So, this particular day, Sally and Arnie were celebrating their 50th Anniversary.
They have three children - two daughters and a son, and many grandbabies, both human and dog.
The session was so much fun. Here’s how it went down:
When I showed up, everybody got warmed up pretty quickly. Arnie started throwing his grandson up in the air as you can see here...
And Sally brought out her wedding dress, perfectly preserved from 50 years earlier. Her granddaughter had a try putting it on.
Then Sally pulled out her wedding album, from 50 years earlier!
It really brings this whole thing home for me.
As a wedding photographer, I help couples create wedding memories, and then help them put these memories into beautifully printed albums.
We have a conversation with couples about how they are going to reminisce about their wedding day for decades to come… how they will be sharing these moments with their grandkids potentially one day… when they’re wrinkled and gray…
But it all seems very theoretical to most young people in love. They're usually just beginning their lives, and their wedding day is about the farthest it seems possible to plan for... The idea of growing old together is only a theoretical one, probably difficult to connect with emotionally.
It’s hard to picture being old and gray… having shaped an entire life together, having given life to others…
It isn't until I meet people like Sally and Arnie who are celebrating 50 years of marriage together, who still reminisce and revisit these memories, and not only that but share them with their grandchildren…
It isn't until then… that it becomes truly real for me. And I’ve been married nearly 18 years, together for 25!
And this is why I wanted to bring you the story on the blog today.
Photographing the “scary” canoe ride
One of the things we did during the session was go out for a little canoe ride.
Now, the last time I was in a canoe, I was with my husband (then boyfriend… so… 20 years ago!), and we flipped it. We flipped in really shallow water. My best friend, Scott, was there at the time, and he laughed his face off when this happened.
So, you can imagine I had some apprehension at the idea of getting into a canoe with all my camera gear, to go out into the lake and take photographs of Arnie playing with the grandkids.
But even though I was apprehensive, for sure, I really wanted to go out there.
I just couldn't miss an opportunity to be out in the middle of the lake, capturing photos of jumping kids and a super devoted Grandpa.
Plus, Heidi and Shannon, the two sisters, told me that they were the head of their canoeing Club back in their University days (though I haven’t fact checked this since… Sorry Heidi and Shannon, if I’m mis-remembering! But those words gave me strength!). So I actually completely trusted them to deliver me and my cargo safely. Once I saw the ease with which they flipped the canoe right side up, put it into the water, and commanded me with confidence about what to do, and how to get in, I was sold.
When I was in the canoe, sitting between Heidi and Shannon, I took a few photographs of the sisters rowing toward the children (rowing or paddling? Not 100% sure on this one…).
I'm super happy that we did this, because of course we caught some cool shots. Like this:
And here are just a bunch of assorted photographs of all the kids having tons of fun, frolicking through the grass and photobombing each other’s photos.
Oh and of course, there was jumping on the trampoline... This lasted for a few minutes, and I tried to get a good photo of each kid, plus a few of the whole group, but again - I wasn’t posing anyone, so I just went with the flow, and took photographs of what was…
And a handful of photos that are some of my favourites, which show the connection between parents and their kids or grandparents and their grandkids.
When I take photographs, I always try to catch some moments of human connection like this between the people in the photographs.
No matter if I’m photographing a wedding, family session, or anniversary.
It’s truly important to remember those connections. A hug, a touch, a smile.
Also important is to capture “simple” everyday life.
Lots of people might not give a lot of importance to photographs of people hanging out on deck chairs, drinking sparkling wine, and having snacks.
This goes for your cocktail hour at the wedding, too. Or for the mingling of guests after dinner at the reception. Those are important segments of the day, where more traditional photographers might take time to start posing groups of people for staged shots.
In contrast, a documentary photographer like me would be really focused on grabbing those spontaneous, unposed, candid moments. And you really have to be looking out for those to grab them.
This is also the period of the day that I get lots of photos that the couple or guests later tell me: “oh, we didn’t even realize you took those! we didn’t see you! you’re like a ninja!” (I hear the ninja thing a lot… and I LOVE IT)
Because the thing is, these candid photographs are the photos that are going to tell the biggest story one day. They don’t only show us what people looked like years ago, but also how they dressed and how they smiled and all those little details that we otherwise forget or miss if we focussed on perfectly posing for a photo.
Take this photograph for example. On the face of it, not much is happening here.
And yet, there so many people visible in the frame that you can look at each face and try and project a story.
You can ask: what they were experiencing and what they were thinking about in that very moment. Heidi and her husband are looking out at the water. Shannon is looking at her mom, Sally. Sally is looking at her son and his wife, who is hiding her face. We don't know why she's hiding her face, but that is part of the mystery of this photograph. Maybe she was laughing at something. Maybe she was embarrassed by something. Or maybe she was just rubbing suntan lotion on her face. It does make for an interesting moment, because there's that little bit of intrigue.
Whenever you're having a celebration of family like this, no matter how casual or informal it is, that is the perfect opportunity to capture family photographs. Don’t be afraid to take candid photographs of “everyday” moments.
Just the family, hanging out, doing nothing much at all.
These are our “ordinary” moments. And these are at the actual magical moments of our lives.
It's in the everyday moments that a life is built.
It's in our everyday moments that our love matures.
And ordinary day after ordinary day, we live our lives. We celebrate anniversary after anniversary, until, if we're lucky, we make it to our 50th.
So yeah, I'm pretty chuffed that Sally and Arnie and their kids welcomed me into their backyard and into their lives for brief glimmer of time, oh just a few hours on this gorgeous afternoon on a summer day on Wolfe Island.
I’ll leave you with some of my favourite images of the gallery that I couldn’t otherwise find a logical spot for: the big willow tree in the backyard, Sally’s beautiful flowers, Arnie paddling his granddaughter into the light, and one of the pups - fresh from a romp in the water.
Did this blog inspire you to think about your own anniversary? Or to think about an anniversary your parents or grandparents are planning? To think of it as a little time capsule of how your family was evolving, in just that moment in time?
If you’ve got an anniversary coming up in the family, then get in touch and we can plan some super fun and stress-free photos of that time.