Out of the 1000+ photo sessions I’ve ever done this one was truly my favorite. And that is really saying something.
I’ve done a lot of passion projects over the years. Those are a free sessions for a good cause. They range from helping a youth group to a family with a loved one dying of cancer. I’ve even partnered up with a group called Cache Valley for Hope foundation that helps families dealing with cancer. All of them have been extremely rewarding.
This session one takes the cake.
A year ago I saw a post of a huge group of pre missionaries from a high school in Utah getting a huge group photo together. As soon as I saw it I sent it to a friend of mine who is also a photographer (and has a son the same age of mine) and told her we have to do this next year! It was a huge undertaking.
I don’t have a huge social media following so I wasn’t sure how to get the word out. In the end I didn’t know if I was going to have 15 kids or 100 show up. We ended up having about 55 total kids come at some point. All from Ridgeline High School!
I take photos of huge groups all the time with weddings and extended families so I went into work mode when they all got there.I knew they were all 18 year olds and I didn’t want to take too much of their time so I started to hurry. It wasn’t until I set them up in the second location and looked round at the other parents who came to watch that it hit me.
Here are all of these young kids. Just finishing high school, had grown up together. Holding flags for countries that were literally all over the world. From the Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the Marshall Islands, Liberia, Guam, Sweden, Paraguay, The Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Peru, Guatemala, South Africa, Spain, Honduras, Albania, Panama, Mexico. And a few US states- Alaska, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, South Carolina, Arkansas, and my favorite (because my son is going there) New Mexico! I’m sure I’m missing a few too.
This group of men and women just starting their adult lives are giving up 18 months (the girls) or two years (the boys) to serve people literally all over the world. Think about how much good they are going to be doing in this world??
The next day I was working on editing a couple of the photos and decided to try to make a instagram reel. I’m not very good at those so it took me a couple of hours I kid you not. I threw a song over the photos and it MADE ME CRY. And up to that point I hadn’t cried at all about it. I knew I found the right song.
It says “we have been saved for these latter days. To build the kingdom in righteous ways. We have been taught. And we understand that we must do as the Lord Commands. We are as the armies of Heleman, we have been taught in our youth. And we will be the Lords Missionaries to bring the world his truth.” The reel has currently been seen 50,000 times.
They are all out on their missions now. Some for 8 months! My son has been serving for 6. The things they see! I love reading their letters and hearing their experiences. It’s nothing like living here in Northern Utah. I just read a email today where he had a gun pointed at him. My son has been in a high speed chase with people trying to rob them. Others are washing their clothes in buckets in the jungle. All of them are having the experience of their lives bringing joy and comfort to the people they meet. I’m just so proud to know all of them.
Also I can’t take credit for all of this. My amazing friend Trinity also took photos for this. She did half of the missionary portraits.
This is my son and his very first companion for his Missionary Training. Crazy enough they grew up just blocks away from each other and are both serving in Farmington New Mexico!
We took some group photos of the kids as well.
My son and his best friends- from beginning of freshmen year to the end of senior year. Tyson is serving in New Mexico, Jack in Texas and Taegan in Alaska.
Oh I love Trinity and I’m so grateful for her and her talent! She took half of the single missionary portraits for me. I could have never gotten it done!
LDS Missionary Photographer- Ridgeline
To see some other missionary minis I did click HERE