Pause for a moment and just take a breath.  Turn off the noise that’s surrounding you and just let the silence fill the room.  Now look back on what the last five years of your life have meant.  In five years a lot has happened.  You’ve changed, your friends have changed and life has changed.  Maybe you graduated college, bought a house, had a baby, or found that first gray hair.  Isn’t crazy that so much can change in five years yet it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed?

Though I stay busy as an Orange County wedding photographer now, five years ago I barely knew how to use a camera.  Sometimes in the business of life that seems so common here in southern California, it can be so easy to lose track of time.  We get stuck in routines and do the same old thing day in and day out.  It seems it can be rare for us to just take a moment to pause and enjoy the very moment were are living in.  Yes a moment where you put your phone away, silence fills the rooms and you are just living in the present.  When I think of moments like that, I think of Nicole & Perris’s recent Orange County maternity photography session.  We spent a recent fall afternoon at their house in Orange County capturing some sweet moments that included Perris singing to his sweet wife and baby before heading up into trabuco canyon for an adventure in the forest.

As Perris held Nicole in his arms I couldn’t help but smile.  I’ve known these two sweet souls for over five years now.  As I sat there capturing their maternity pictures I reflected on how about five years ago Perris and I were living in dorm rooms across from each other in college.  Also how Nicole and I had college classes together and how everyone at school adored her relationship with Perris.  Now five years later, I have grown a stronger friendship with these two that will last long after college, I’ve encouraged them to throw paint at each other (see it here!), they have moved a few times, opportunities have come and gone and now I believe they are entering into an incredible new chapter as their prayers are being answered as they grow their family from two to four through adoption and their pregnancy.  I couldn’t be any more excited for Nicole & Perris and I’m so glad I got to capture their maternity photos because when I look at these photographs I see a beautiful story that was years in the making now entering an incredible new chapter.  Cherish the journey.