A Season of Change

This season in our lives has been a busy and changing one.  We are experiencing changes in jobs and family.  In a few weeks we could be parents (if this peaks your interest, you can check out our slightly more personal blog "When We Belong" coming up soon).  That's huge.  This photography business gets busier and busier, which is great!  We are building a house, which should be finished in February, which we are extremely excited about.  We go out there every other day, getting excited about new piles of gravel and dirt (if you've ever built a house, you know exactly what I mean).  It is a beautiful and wonderful time in our lives.  So much happening, and it seems so surreal.  

So today, I'm not going to display any photographs (albeit I have plenty to post!).  Just wanted to touch base with those reading and wondering where we have been.  Things are good, and we have much more to come.  So stay tuned, and let us know what is happening in your lives.

Janelle 2008

This was a great senior session.  Janelle was so much fun, and we just had a great time braving the cold air, and multiple outfits.  What a beautiful girl!

Mark & Lindsay - September 4, 2008

Well, after an awesome Bellies & Babies seminar in Cincinnati with Sandy Puc', we raced down to Hilton Head, South Carolina this past Thursday.  After a beautiful week of sun and fun, Tropical storm Hanna decided to make her way to Hilton Head dead on the day of the wedding (Friday).  So a last minute decision was made by the bride and groom to have the wedding on Thursday instead.  So we got about three hours of sleep, got to the car rental place at about 5:30am, and all they had left was a 2009 red Mustang.  Yes, we were so sad.  (Wow, that car drives nice!)  We drove all day from Lexington, KY, and got into Hilton Head right at 5pm.  The bride was sitting on the front steps of the house in her pajamas drinking lemonade and the wedding was at 7!  Yes, this was going to be laid back.  So after about an hour and a half of getting ready, the ceremony got started.  The wind was blowing, but the sunset was amazing.  As soon as the ceremony ended Wes and I grabbed the whole family and got the main group and family shots.  I knew we had little daylight left, so I grabbed the bride and groom and got to it.  I say this again and again, but you just can't go wrong with an ocean as a backdrop.  It's beautiful every time!  On the last series of pics just before we lost all light, I pulled out my pocket wizards (these things rock!).  Wes held the flash, and combined with the moon and sunset, I think this shot is gorgeous!  Thanks to Mark & Lindsay who are don't mind getting dirty!

A small lull before the storm.

Ah, I have caught a little break between weddings, and it has been nice.  The fall is going to kick my butt into gear, and we're gonna have some fun!  On September 5th we'll be heading to Hilton Head, SC to shoot a wedding on the beach, and the following week I think we may be heading to Israel to visit some friends, and catch some breathtaking beauty with my canon.  And then I have a wedding every few weeks for the next few months.  Busy times ahead!

I continue to learn and grow in this business of photography.  I have tackled coffee table books and albums, and it's getting to be a lot more fun.  I eat up my favorite magazine, Professional Photographer (this magazine rocks!).  God just continues to give me grace as I get ready to launch a full time career in this.  It's almost here.  A little scary....but exciting too.

So little time

Hey guys, it's been a busy month or two.  I've been booking weddings, editing pics, building albums, but it doesn't seem that I get much time behind the lens.  Oh how I wish I had more time, and less work!  Well, those days are coming.  I just keep moving forward, and I know a shifting is coming.  

Anyways, Ho Hum, all is well.  My husband and I went on vacation in South Carolina recently and visited the beautiful Riverbanks Zoo.  I don't know why, but I am always enamored by the meerkats.  They are so stinkin' cool!  Check out this chic.  She is awesome!

Running the Race to Win the Prize

Here are some of my musings of the hour....

At a certain point, I made a decision to pursue what I love.  Photography.  Actually, that "certain point" was really a conglomeration of several conversations over months (perhaps even years) with my husband, where he told me that I needed to do what I loved and was truly gifted in.  He was alluding to, well actually he pretty much just said, "You need to do photography."  So here I am, two years into the game, and I'm making some headway.  

One of my greatest challenges is not coveting every awesome gadget and tool that is involved in the world of photography.  You see, about a year ago, Wes and I decided that we would build our businesses by the sweat of our brow.  Meaning?  We will not be borrowing money.  This is a sweat equity business baby, and every dollar is earned.  No, this is not because the bank won't give us money because we have a history of losing money and late payments.  On the contrary, my credit pretty much rocks, and we are an on-time-payment kind of family.  We have just chosen a different way of doing business, and we are taking a slightly more old fashioned approach (which I happen to believe is a lot wiser too) in the way we handle our money.

Okay okay...so it's been two years.  And in that time I have built a website, bought a new camera, two AWESOME lenses, a studio lighting kit, acquired an awesome Macbook Pro (love it and can never go PC again!) taken a class or two, and more importantly, I have seen my love of photography blossom.  When you start taking enough pictures, you begin to see life in pictures.  I was watching a mom with her little boy today, and as she picked him up and put him down, I kept seeing different frames go by....beautiful moments that can be frozen in time with something as simple as a camera.  So cool.

So all this to say, I am loving the process, but man would I love a few extra bucks to get a few extra luxuries...the Canon Mark III (oh man, would that rock!), some wireless transmitters, a couple of flashes, just a few more lenses...yeah, you get the drift.  But I know that there is so much coming.  

I want to bless people through this medium of art.  More importantly, I want to bless God through this medium of art.  I want to freeze in time the beauty that He has made in His creation.  Everything from the cliffs of the greatest mountains, to the tiny hands of a newborn baby.  Amazing...

So I continue to press on.  I continue to run this race, because I know that the reward is great.  Who knows how far this will go, but I'm thinking big.  The cool part is you guys get to see me here, pretty much in the beginning.  I'm thinking global, though.  And that can entail so much.  But thoughts on the global stuff will take up a whole other post, so I'll wait a bit for that one.  Cheers!