Family photos

My path with Trisha Shelley crossed almost too late. We first connected in October 2020 when I signed up for a mini shoot at the Arch. We were in the same LDS ward; her husband, Jake, was in ortho residency at SLU.

She took our photo to announce our perfect rainbow baby.

We picked Jake's brain over the next year, and he was incredibly helpful in getting our Ortho residency application ready.

We connected once again in February 2021 for Maternity photos. They were a success in the freezing cold!

I'll be honest, the Mormon stigma and judging made me a little nervous about being around her. I was afraid she thought less of us because we hadn't been to church... at all. I was worried she would see I wasn't wearing garments. The list goes on and on. :)

A few months after the pictures we had some friends over and they mentioned she gave a talk in church about being a non-believer. I was shocked and so interested! Was she out?! Logan and I were also in the process of leaving. I wanted to reach out so bad... but I didn't know how or what to say.

I posted a few things on my story, and Trisha reached out to me asking if I wanted to get together and talk about leaving the church. It lined up perfectly to go chat with her one afternoon while my mom was in town to watch Benson.

This was an incredible conversation and I felt so sad that we had both been suffering ... alone. Their time in St. Louis was down to weeks, and I couldn't believe we wouldn't get a chance to really connect. Our families got together one more time and they were off to New Mexico!

Over the past year, we've stayed in contact and offered support to each other when needed. Trisha threw out the idea of coming back to take pictures... and I wasn't the only one who begged her to. :)

We met up in Forest Park and she captured some of the most incredible photos. I'm so glad our paths crossed, even for a moment.

I want to attach the talk she gave in church - please give it a read.