Each year for our wedding anniversary I take our portraits. We try and do it on the day-of if it’s sunny. The years when it’s raining we end up doing it the closest we can. This year, it was cold and rainy for our anniversary. So while we had gotten all dressed up to go out to dinner, we only took our pictures this past weekend.

One of the best parts of this annual tradition is taking the picture somewhere meaningful. We either take it where we’re living or where we’re staying that day. Often we’ve been out east for our annual trip to Nova Scotia to visit Rob’s family and pop over to Prince Edward Island. This year, since Eastern Canada is treating those of us “from away” like we’re from another country and mandating a two-week quarantine upon arrival, we didn’t get to go. But we needed to have a nod to COVID-19 in at least one of our portraits. We decided to wear masks! Rob thankfully remembered that plan after we’d wrapped up and gotten back to the car. We ran back out, took a single picture, and headed home.

But that didn’t feel right… we were wearing our grown up clothes for only the second time since March! So we actually went out for dinner at a local restaurant to do our part for the economy. And also because we’ve been on a strict diet for two weeks and were due for a modest cheat meal! Best grilled chicken burger and sweet potato fries in a long time.

You’d think that being a photographer this would be a snap, but it is tough to take self-portraits! I set up the tripod, get Rob to stay put while I focus, and then press the shutter and run into the frame while the timer counts down. There are a few missed focus shots and some where we didn’t get the post right, but for the most part we have it down. What’s harder is getting Meadow in the pictures, which we only attempt every couple years! She did pretty well this year, though you can tell she’s not overly excited about things.

And so without further ado, here is our anniversary photo from this year, as well as all the previous years, and some other fun ones thrown in!

Nine years! First anniversary is top left, then it goes left to right, left to right, and this year’s is the big one on the right. If you want to see a more detailed description of most of the years, check out this post from a few years ago.

 

And here is this year’s a little bigger for those of you in the back. Note that other than doing my standard colour and sharpening adjustments every year, I do not edit these images. The point is to see how we age! Taking out wrinkles would not be true to this game. We do age! Good lighting is key.

 

 

Meadow is not overly impressed but at least she stayed still! She’s seven years old this year.

 

 

Such a daddy’s girl.