A Passion for Preserving the Moment | Photographer & Album Designer Melissa Bugg

I LOVE working with a team of passionate people.  Our passion drives everything we do, every decision we make and every aspect of our business!  I also love getting a glimpse of where that passion stems from and how it has shaped our artists’ lives and work!  We have the honor of working with the indelible Melissa Bugg every day.  I am so thankful for her desire to share not only the root of her love of documenting moments but also the reason behind her dedication to beautifully preserving those moments!  Bugg is both a brilliant photographer and also our album designer guru here at The Decisive Moment.  Her dedication to beautifully and artistically preserving each story is evident in the stunning albums our clients treasure.  Here is a glimpse of why…

I am the granddaughter of a World War II Veteran. A man who loved being out in his yard, building model cars and genealogy. He was an amateur photographer, an organist and a historian. He served his country, his church, his community and his family. I never saw him without a smile on his face. He was one of the biggest loves of my life.

I was holding him when he took his last breath two years ago.  His death forever changed me. And it further strengthened my perspective on my photography and why it is that I do what I do.

After his passing, we were left with the daunting task of cleaning out his house. So many things to go through.  So many decisions to make about what to do with everything. I don’t know the exact moment, but as we were boxing and wrapping and setting things aside, I realized that we weren’t just going through his belongings, but instead his life story. His old organ he used to play at family gatherings. The chair he always sat in. The dining room table where we shared so many holiday meals. They all held so many memories. I stumbled upon shelves full of photo albums that I had never seen before. It took my breath away. I flipped through pages upon pages of carefully placed photos in scrapbooks. Photographs from his time serving during the war. From his marriage to a grandmother I never knew. To photos of my mom as a child. These photos were his way of recording history. His history. My family’s history. Now his legacy.

He must have known on some level that he was not just saving these photos for himself but that he was saving them for me and my family. That he was taking pictures not because he could, but because he *should*. That they would one day tell the story of a life well lived. He has left us a priceless gift.

Like my grandfather, I am a historian in my own way. I am a photographer not just to show what I see and who I see, but *how* I see. I understand the gravity of documenting special occasions and fleeting moments – it is such an honor for me. Because I know somewhere down the line, there will be a granddaughter who opens her grandfather’s wedding album after he’s gone and says with a smile, “Thank you, Granddaddy. This is the best gift you ever could have given me.”