The Byrd Family / Four Generations

The photo shoot with the Byrd family was a little different than anything I had done before. I was invited into a family gathering of four generations where they were celebrating... well... just being all together in one place at one time on a beautiful afternoon. What a fantastic idea! I arrived right about the time they all were filling up their plates to eat so I was able to wander around for a bit before any "formal" photography started. The property was a gorgeous setting with a lake and a dock and moss covered trees and the entire Byrd family was welcoming and personable (it may have helped that just as I stepped onto the back porch and meet eyes with Jeni Byrd, my cousin Angie's childhood friend, that I put two and two together and realized I actually knew the Byrd family.) But it was when I was exploring around the house that I began to really get to know this family.

As a photographer I am, of course, drawn to pictures. And I found myself standing in front of the perfect little display of old and new photographs in the corner of a room. As my eyes widened and I took in the images I heard a voice come from just over my shoulder, "That's me and my wife," he said, "That picture was taken when I was in the navy in Virginia." I was looking at a black and white picture of a beautiful young couple, the girl was in a dress and had thick dark hair with a flower in it and the boy was in a white uniform. They were looking into each other's eyes, smiling. "I'm the patriarch of this family, you know," he continued. And I turned to meet Darrell Byrd.

From the day that young couple was all dolled up, all in love and captured on film to this day where we stood in a house together talking over pictures, three more generations of Byrds had come into the world. And today they were all gathered here to celebrate what they cherished most, each other.

I took note of the image and the story and made sure that it made it outside with me when we set up under the towering trees to capture more pictures that told grand stories to be displayed in homes for generations to come.