Shocking.
I know.
Two blog posts in 24 hours…please do not think I {Donna} am going to start spoiling you like this on a daily basis. Consider this a New Year’s gift!
An incredible story I want to share with you…
I was honored to be asked by Ralph to secretly photograph him asking his girlfriend Jill to marry him. There were unusual cicrumstances around how Ralph was given my name and I had thought long and hard about refusing the request. Fortunately Geri talked sense into me and I photographed the big moment. It was the most incredible, heart-felt session I think I have ever photographed.
I used my daughter as a decoy and she ran up and down the beach pretending I was photographing her when in reality I was photographing Jill and Ralph. Once he proposed to Jill and he explained what I was really doing there…we did some more portraits of the two of them as the sun went down. I can tell you that I have never seen two people more suited for each other or more in love during the time I spent with them.
If anyone is familiar with my past, you might have heard my stories about the times I have believed to have captured “orbs” or spiritual light sources during weddings that have always had reasonable explanations of who the orbs represented. I was viewing Ralph and Jill’s images later that night and my sister was standing over my shoulder. I came to the one picture that was the moment of truth…when he pulled out the ring. My sister can tell you I think I visibly gasped because in that one image out of hundreds…there is an orb that stands out. Instead of rewriting this…I am going to attach the email I sent to Ralph with the picture attached. It tells the story better than me retelling it.
It is long but so worth the read!!
Enjoy!
Hi Ralph…
I don’t know if you have ever heard of orbs and capturing light sources in pictures that is believed to be “other worldly” but I have had a few occasions in the past when photographing special moments (actually three weddings) where I have captured these.
This explains a little more about them…
Taken from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/spirit-orbs-ghosts-angeles-spirit-guides-or-other-psychic-phenomenon.html
There is a lot of controversy over what orbs really are. I, like most spiritual people think orbs are energies of spirits, ghosts or angels that can be seen on film. When we pass over to the other side our soul or spirit energy lives on, around us but in other dimensions. When the spirit leaves the physical body behind it is just pure energy and is in its natural form of a sphere. When the spirit of a loved one comes back to visit us, if they appear to us they are showing us a representation of themselves that we would recognize, appearing to us in the shape of their human body. However there is no need for a shape or body once we have passed on and the shape of the sphere is the natural sate of pure energy, similar to the energy of an atom where the electrons are spinning circularly around the nucleus.
Imagine that although we live in the physical world we have many helpers, spirits and guides around us in a non physical world, that stay around us, helping us with our daily lives. That we have a main spirit guide and then several other guides as well as numerous other energies around us. Orbs are these spirit energies that can sometimes be captured on film.
I got a very distinct message from the orbs that goes like this- ” Our purpose in life is to experience joy and share joy. That the orbs love to experience physical joy and come around us in droves when we share our happiness with others because they too can share this joy with us”.
These spheres only seem to appear on digital film, mostly still cameras but also digital video and others have reported them on Poloroid film. You can’t usually see orbs with the naked eye, though when a flash is used you can sometimes see ‘sparks’ of light as the flash goes off, in the areas where the orbs appear.
These orbs show intelligent energy and they will appear when you meditate and ask the orbs to show themselves. We’ve taken many photos at the ranch that show successive frames, some with no orbs and then when we are laughing and having a good time, we have thousands around us. After you learn how to manifest these orbs you will find them showing up in your photos at happy events; parties, weddings and around people singing and dancing. At our evenings of “photographing Spirit Orbs” at the ranch, we all have a good time and we find that when we are laughing and singing is when we see the most orbs in the photos.
Orbs often seem to appear on film around a person or animal close by their head or above the head and remain in this position even in different photos. These may be the spirit guides or loved ones of the subject in the photograph. Sometimes when blown up the viewer may even see a face in the orb pattern.
There also seems to be a correlation between the person taking the photographs and the orbs appearances. We had some young girls on one of our photographing Orbs evenings and orbs would show up when ever they took the photos. Everyone was passing the girls their cameras to take pictures. The appearance of orbs has to do with the openness or spiritual advancement of the person taking the photos and of the people in the photos.
I also believe that there is an awakening that happens to us when we are open to seeing orbs. After the first time I saw orbs in my photos and started to welcome them into my existence, I noticed a distinct shift in my spiritual awareness. In fact for nights after I started seeing them coming to me during the night and bringing messages until I said I need to slow down a little here!
I do believe that they are appearing to us now for a reason. That the world is going through tough changes and they are here to protect and help us through this. They are appearing to us to give us the confidence and faith that we need. I believe that each orb has a healing power and that by simply looking at their manifestation in the photos we are allowing their healing power to pass down to us. Some have even gone so far as to name and identify each orb and its meaning. I believe it is up to the individual to look at the image that was meant for them and just to contemplate with it. The energy that it wishes to give, will come to you, regardless of whether you are consciously aware.” end of article…
the rest of my email follows..
The day I photographed your session I was speaking to a close friend and told him about my past experiences with orbs and we had a lengthy discussion regarding my openness to them. It never crossed my mind that both you and Jill have had close loved ones in your past move on…
There is one image out of the hundreds I took that, hands down, was my favorite. It was the exact moment you revealed the ring to Jill…I was using a very long lens that day and was not able to see your expressions as the proposal unfolded. In this image your face shines…brighter than in any other…
If you look to the left of the image…there is also an orb that appeared in this image. It did not appear in any of the other pictures taken during those moments…just the one. It actually gave me major chills when I first saw the image.
I know there are people who will not believe this and attempt to come up with some scientific reason for the light source. I choose to believe that there is someone who is watching over the two of you and was very present during one of the most special moments of your life. I have attached the picture for you to see.
Thank you for letting me be a part of your day…I believe it was for a reason.
Michelle Bellofatto: Beautiful portraits Geri! Love the shot of the boys running up the hill. Your blog is great too!