In the spring of 2023 I was with a client taking photos of her little boy for his upcoming baptism. I was telling him how my little boy was being baptized a member of our church later that summer too. (In our church children are at least 8 before they are baptized). I was telling them how I was going to have to take my own sons photos that summer for his baptism and it hit me like lightening.
I was about to leave for New York State on a trip with my family to a spot that is very important in my church and I could take his photos there. I was almost shaking it made me so excited. How weird am I? But I loved the idea so much.
As soon as I got home I asked Easton what he thought about that. Of course he loved it! So I started making quick plans. I bought him a little suit and my mother in law got his scriptures bought. We arranged our schedule to make it work that we would be there in the evening for photos. It was all set.
Before our trip I wanted to do some research on the area so I spent a lot of time online trying to find any photos taken like this around here. Honestly I couldn’t find any. I didn’t know if you could even take photos like this in the scared grove so I figured I would use the Palmyra temple that is literally just up the hill from the sacred grove. But it’s open for people to walk around and spend all the time they want in there. So we did them all right outside or in the grove.
That morning we did the whole tour around the area. But by the evening my older boys went to the temple and my husband, 11 year old and I went into the sacred grove with Easton. I was the beginning of June and pretty hot. Also the mosquitos were really, really bad. (Bring bug spray if you go!) So that with a 8 year old who has a fake camera smile made it hard. I felt so much pressure to get this right. It was too cool to mess it up. But we were the only people in there. It was the coolest experience. I’ll never forget it.
I wish I could do all of my baptism sessions in upstate New York but living in northern Utah that isn’t possible. But if you are interested in photos in the Cache Valley area click HERE.
To find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint click HERE.