Celebrating all things LOVE | Sydney Photographer

Updated: Mar 13, 2020

If you've been to the shops lately - or lets face it, just about anywhere - you're probably aware that Valentine's Day is coming up FAST.

Heads up guys, it's THIS Friday. Yep, two sleeps away.

So we're sitting here wondering what to write about Valentine's Day.

"Don't forget the roses" might work, or "make sure to buy those expensive chocolates" - you know the ones, they are actually awful, but they do come in a GIANT box with a ribbon and a heart shaped card and really, what says "I love you" more than that, right?!

We aren't going to tell you any of that because, well, commercialism.

Instead we made the mistake of googling Where did Valentine's Day originate.

There are some things that once you know, you can't un-know and once you do, you'll wonder why that giant heart shaped box was the best selling Valentines gift of 2020.

So here goes, Valentine's Day was named after Saint Valentine a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century, who as it turns out was a die-hard romantic.

The Emperor at the time (who was a strict pagan) decided that Roman Soldiers should be completely devoted to Rome and passed a law that soldiers were not allowed to marry in Christian ceremonies. Saint Valentine (the romantic) began marrying the soldiers to their loves in secret.

Eventually Saint Valentine was busted. During his time in prison he cared for the fellow prisoners and even the jailor's blind daughter. Legend is that he cured her blindness and that his final act was to write her a love message signed ‘from your Valentine'. The kicker? Valentine was executed on 14 February. Yep, you read that right. The hero died - what sort of love story is this?

Many many years later when Christianity ruled, the leaders replaced a pagan fertility ritual held in February with Saint Valentine's Day to commemorate his life.

Chaucer though, is to blame for the modern Valentine's Day concept (which kind of makes sense because he is after all a poet) where love was expressed in secret with the giving of elaborately made cards (the more elaborate more you love the person obviously).

So there you have it, we celebrate love on a day some dude was executed for believing in love. That's commercialism for you!!

Let us show you how WE think love should be honoured...

Because love is our jam

The type of love that makes grandma teary (or the photographer - let's be honest here), that makes a brother hold his sibling that little bit tighter, it's a brand new baby, or visiting the cemetery because that's where your loved one is. It's a 20 year relationship between two gorgeous women in their 60's who can at long last be legally acknowledged (I definitely cried capturing that day!!) It's a little girl who can't verbally express her feelings for her mum, but is still capable of letting her love show. It's the Mother and Father of the bride that proudly tell me that they have been together for 50 years, who still hold hands. It's a father seeing his little girl as a bride for the first time. Or your children bravely saying goodbye to their lifelong pet, and holding him gently as he goes to heaven. You get the idea. Our gift to you this Valentine's Day is a blog post full of love moments captured forever.

Happy Valentines Day!