There are some moments that feel a little extra special when you get to be the one behind the camera.
Getting to photograph my cousin Garrett’s engagement was one of those moments.
Garrett is my cousin, but growing up, he was also basically my built-in best friend. He is only one month and three days older than me, so for most of our lives, we have pretty much grown up side by side. We shared family gatherings, childhood memories, and plenty of the kind of things that only make sense when you grow up together.
And then there was Abby.
Abby was one of my very best friends throughout middle school. She was one of those friends who was around for all the awkward phases, questionable outfits, and the kind of pictures that you probably wouldn't want resurfacing today. And, of course, Garrett was usually the one we recruited to take them.
We would hand him a camera or a phone and make him take all of our cheesy middle school best-friend pictures. At the time, they were just silly photos we wanted to have with each other. We definitely weren't thinking about the fact that years later, Garrett would be standing in front of my camera with Abby for something so much bigger.
Because somehow, all of those years later, it came full circle.
This time, Garrett wasn't just taking pictures of Abby and me being goofy middle school best friends. He was the one getting down on one knee and asking her to spend forever with him — and I got to be the one behind the camera capturing it.
Getting to watch my cousin propose to one of my childhood best friends was such a surreal feeling. I wasn't just photographing an engagement. I was photographing two people whose stories I had been a small part of long before either of them knew this moment was coming.
And getting to capture the exact moment Garrett got down on one knee, knowing the history behind the two of them, made it even more special.
From cheesy middle school pictures to engagement pictures… I don't think we could have written a better full-circle moment if we tried.
I am so thankful I got to witness it, but even more thankful that I got to freeze it in photographs for them to look back on for years to come.
My cousin and one of my oldest friends are getting married, and somehow I get to say I was there — camera in hand — when it all began.
