Why “Catch & Release”?

Photography is a powerful medium. A great deal of my childhood was captured on film by my parents and carefully organized into photo albums. I love to page through those albums still today, and as the years go by, I’m uncertain if I genuinely remember my childhood or if those snapshots have simply become my reality.

I am now a custodian of my own family’s memories. Like many parents, I watch my children change in the blink of an eye and bear witness to the fact that every stage of life is fleeting. It is at this point in my life when the adage “this, too, shall pass” has become a bittersweet notion.

And hence, photography has become my method of capturing life… marking a moment in time because it, too, will soon change.  This is the “Catch.”

But as our children will not always be young, nor will a family always be under the same roof, we are all in a continual process of letting go. Children are meant to grow. People are supposed to age. Life is to be lived. This is the “Release.”

Portraits are an ideal means of catching a moment, a phase, or a new adventure. For we will all need to release those we love eventually.

… so, no. It’s not about fishing.