Celebrating Queerness, Capturing Memories: D. Fritz & Meg Wells on LGBTQ+ Wedding Photography
In today’s episode, we speak with D Fritz and Meg Wells of River & Root Photography. D Fritz (they/them) is R&R’s founder and primary artist, and Meg is (they/them/she/her), R&R’s operations lead and second photographer. Together, their mission is to provide the LGBTQ+ community with the wedding and elopement photography they deserve.
They also are a couple, who live together in their converted van, traveling to some of the most underserved and underrepresented LGBTQ+ communities in order to capture the celebratory memories for Queer couples of all stripes.
As a (Queer) couple who work and live together, how do they compartmentalize to find work-life balance? And how do their lived experiences create unique perspectives that can be integrated and infused into the work that they do?
Listen in as we speak about:
Memorializing Queer Weddings
Pride Month 2023 & the Counter-Reaction
What it truly means to be an Ally
Radical Acceptance & Inclusivity
Memorializing Queer Weddings
When D began wedding photography, they never imagined that it would grow into a successful business with so much momentum. As Meg came on board and the operation began to grow, the focus and intention of their work became clearer: to capture and memorialize LGBTQ+ wedding celebrations in an authentic and honest way.
Many of the Wedding industry’s common practices and jargon are inherently gendered. It’s D and Meg’s mission to foster a more inclusive space with simple methods, like creating gender neutral paperwork for couples to fill out, and removing terms like “bride” and “groom.”
One key way that LGBTQ+ wedding photography deviates from more traditional wedding photos, is that couples choose to include their “made family” - the people who were supportive to them along their Queer journey - in portraits as well. Intentional focus on the importance of documenting and memorializing these moments for couples is a cornerstone of River & Root’s work.
Pride Month 2023 & the Counter-Reaction
Pride Month is a good thing. Celebrate and be proud. But also, be aware of how Pride Month is used by opportunistic companies and/or organizations in bad faith, in order to sell rainbow merch. Resist the tokenization of Pride and the LGBTQ+ community, and support them just as strongly during the other 11 months of the year.
With extra focus on Pride, inevitably and unfortunately, brings a range of hateful rhetoric as well. D & Meg have unique experiences and perspectives, as a queer couple, in experiencing hateful and bigoted public attention. They talk about how no matter where you are, hate is around you, and what you can do about it.
What it truly means to be an Ally
You aren’t an ally if you’re only an ally in June. D and Meg counsel people who are sympathetic to the LGBTQ+ movement to boldly share your message. Be unapologetic and clearly align yourself in ways that fit within your values.
Don’t stay silent because it’s the path of least resistance. Make your voice heard, and have conversations with people who may not agree with your perspective.
Share your pronouns! Especially if they match your assigned biological sex from birth. Use the privilege of cisgenderism to lift up marginalized communities.
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