Some stories are just extra special to tell.
And this one? This one has been unfolding for nearly fifteen years.
If you’ve followed this blog for a long time, you might remember a sweet girl named Ashley. Back in 2012, I wrote a post called RTP Fan Revealed: Miss Ashley. It was about a chance encounter in a yoga studio locker room on a night when I was feeling particularly discouraged about my work and purpose as a photographer.
A young woman approached me and asked if I was René Tate. She told me she’d been following my blog for years and encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing. To keep telling stories.
That young woman was Ashley.
Little did either of us know just how many of HER stories I’d get to tell.
Over the years, Ashley became a dear friend. In 2015, we photographed her among the wildflowers at Red Rocks Open Space in one of my favorite whimsical portrait sessions. Then came Jim. And engagement photos at Garden of the Gods. Twice, actually!
Their journey to marriage wasn’t exactly a straight line. They had originally planned to marry in 2017, but chose to wait, grow, pray, and allow God to do some work in their hearts. I admired them so much for that. They weren’t simply preparing for a wedding. They were preparing for a marriage.
And in June 2019, I had the enormous privilege of photographing their beautiful Spruce Mountain Ranch wedding. Rain, hail, an outdoor ceremony beneath a wooden cross, and SO much joy.
What a day that was.
But the story didn’t end there.
After I moved home to Colorado from Arizona, Ashley met me for another session. This time, she brought their little girl and a giant balloon announcing “Big Sis!” Baby number two was on the way!
And after their first son arrived, I got to see this growing family again for a mini session.
Which brings us to today.
Ashley and Jim are now a family of FIVE.
A beautiful daughter and son, and a brand-new baby brother who has made their family just a little bigger and their hearts a whole lot fuller.
For this session, I joined them at home, photographing their family in the place where so much of their everyday life happens. We spent time inside, soaking up those fleeting newborn moments, and then ventured outdoors into the beautiful open space surrounding their home.
I love the combination of those two settings. The intimacy of home, where everyone can simply be themselves, and the beauty of Colorado right outside their door.
But what makes these photographs so meaningful to me isn’t just the setting or even the arrival of their precious baby boy.
It’s the history.
I’ve photographed Ashley as a young woman with dreams ahead of her. I’ve photographed her falling in love, preparing for marriage, becoming a wife, and now raising three beautiful children alongside the man she waited and prayed to marry.
And I think about that night in the yoga studio all those years ago. When God used a stranger to encourage me to keep telling stories.
And now, all these years later, I get to help preserve hers.
This is what I love most about being a photographer. Not simply capturing one beautiful moment, but being invited back, year after year, to witness the chapters that follow. To see how love grows, how families change, and how the little moments we photograph today become the treasures our children will hold someday.
Ashley and Jim, I adore you guys. Thank you for letting me walk alongside you through so many beautiful seasons of life. Your friendship and your trust mean more than you know.
And to your three precious kiddos: one day, I hope you’ll look through these photographs and see just how loved you have been from the very beginning.
What a beautiful story God continues to write.
With so much love & joy,
René
This isn’t content. This is legacy.
