Un Conventional Family Sessions :: Durham’s Central Park :: Durham, NC

Update: after a month of picking, choosing, finding music, and tears, we got the video done.  It was always our intention to make some kind of slideshow to share around Facebook, post on YouTube, and hopefully send into viral-land, just to show the world that North Carolina is still a place where all families are appreciated.  While we don’t support Amendment One and what it stands for, we understand that democracy is powerful, and the state voted the way it did, so we all have to learn to deal with each other in the aftermath.  Whether you feel vindicated because your beliefs were supported, or you’re reeling from what it’s done to what you considered your family, we think you deserve respect.  Our project was supposed to show that, and we hope you take from it not that we don’t approve, but that we want each and every family in our state to feel loved.

Thanks to Jimmy Davis for providing the sweet, beautiful song; to LisaCaitlin Hess for working her butt off on a sweltering Durham day; to Violet Baker, for being only 11 and believing in love; and to everyone who was there, sees this, or just thought a happy thought that day: thank you for being with us.

The story of the images:

Last month, we took a stand the only way we know how to against the passing of Amendment One in NC. We declared that any family (as each of them defined it) would get a free photo session with us at Durham’s Central Park. All anyone had to do was sign up for a time, bring whatever he or she considered “family,” and we would shoot it completely for free.  We had an AMAZING turn out, and we would like to thank each and every one of you that came out to show your support for our project. These are a few of our favorite images from the day. Thanks for sharing your day with us!