If a picture is worth a thousand words, the work of a family-run wedding photography business in Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson is worth more than 23 billion words.

If that doesn't illustrate how many weddings that Candid Wedding Photographers have shot during the past 44 years of operation, rest assured - it's a lot.

About 77,000, in fact.

Hampered by advances in technology, increasing competition and people's tendency nowadays to cohabit rather than marry, the company owner,Marion King, has watched her business slowly erode over the past several years.

Come late February, the three studios will permanently close.

"The business isn't there anymore likeit was," said King, who took ownership of the company from one of the original founders, Elbert Leistner. Leistner retired in 2000.

At the peak of his business, Leistner and his partners employed close to 90 photographers and support staff.

Leistner recalled one day during the pinnacle of his success when the company shot 79 weddings in a single day.

That day was Feb. 14, 1981.

"I went about nuts," he joked.

That is a far cry from the 15 to 20 weddings the studio shoots during a typical weekend nowadays.

King said many customers want their weddings shot with digital cameras these days rather than cameras using film.

Some of the reasons are that the labor is cheaper, it takes less time to produce prints and the public generally views digital photography as being superior to film.

"What it is, is we've become an instant society," said Norman McEwen, a photographer who's worked at Candid Wedding Photography since its founding.

Another reason behind Candid's decline is that more wedding photography studios are starting business in the Valley, and they're fighting for slices of a dwindling pie.

Although it's hurt her business, King said she's not bothered that people choose to live together without marrying.

"That's their business. That's a personal choice that people make," she said.

The company was operated by a few close friends and family members since its founding in 1964 by Leistner, Glenn Paulus and Rudy King.

Paulus has since died and King moved to Denver to start another photography business.

The company's photographers have shot weddings, anniversaries, bar mitzvah and birthday parties for folks including ordinary residents and celebrities like Eric Clapton and Glen Campbell.

In many instances, the company has photographed weddings of multiple generations in the same family.

At one wedding, which stood out in Leistner's mind, a flower girl accidentally stepped on the bride's long veil, pulling it off along with the wig she was wearing.

Another more harrowing story involved a bride and groom who were separated by a swollen Agua Fria River after a heavy monsoon rain.

Unable to cross the flooded river for his wedding day, the groom was forced to charter a helicopter to meet his bride at the pulpit.

King said many of their customers and employees have become some of their dearest friends.

"We'll leave with some very good memories," she said.

Jerry Harris, Leistner's and King's longtime friend and customer, said the company not only photographed his wedding, but that of his mother and two daughters.

He said he was troubled to learn of their closure.

"It's the saddest thing," he said. "These are quality people. They just couldn't keep up with the technology."