Some of you know that I challenged myself to take more pictures of my own children. By the time 2009 had ended I only had a handful of photos of my kids and that was just unacceptable. I didnt even do personalized birthday invites or holiday cards like I used to do in the past…nothing! Yes, I felt terrible but still didnt change. This is is why my weekly project is strictly devoted to them. Anyway…some of you also know that they have been really sick…back and forth to the ER by myself…I almost slipped back into that dark place that I was for a few months but…I turned to God this time and some fellow colleagues of mine and just asked for help…
Well now they are all better and life is good
So finally for the first time, I was able to use my in-home studio [for them] and shot some photos of them for their Valentines Day cards. yay!
I still am not sure I am mastering this lighting stuff…I keep seeing flaws but then I remember what Dane Sanders and other photographers and friends said to me…so I will keep it moving and love my own work.

Now I have to decide what I will do for March and April photos, lol

facebook is a wonderful thing…i learned how to change the colors of the blocks…yay…cant wait to change these to vday colors

Noah’s school had a celebration for 100 days of Kindergarten!! Boy, I cant believe we have already done 100 days…I tell you what though, I’m counting down til the LAST day of school! This mama is tired!

I went to my first PUG meeting on January 26th. I was so glad that I went too. I have only heard of Dane Sanders briefly through twitter but felt I needed to go hear what he had to say after I read over the brief summary of what the meeting would be about. Dane Sanders is an inspiring photographer, writer and most of all a father of 4!!
Dane challenged us to be “all in” to stop letting other people tell us who we really are….because we are all individuals AND we are all UNIQUE. He said to dig deep and find the real you…to be destined for greatness. The part that stuck out the most for me was…stop being afraid to fail, to stand out, to believe the truth because everything is already inside and if I set my mind to it…IT IS POSSIBLE (and yes, it will take hard work). The thing that I love most about Dane is that he was REAL!! No if, ands or buts…he had so many things that could have prevented him from even coming but he chose to be here for us that night. I must admit that I got very teary eyed listening to him and watching the clips that brought during the presentation. I think every photographer in Jacksonville should have been there that night to listen to his message. Dane said he dared us to get off automatic…because automatic means you arent trustworthy….whoa! And he didnt mean “auto” on our cameras

If I ever have the opportunity to meet Dane again….I am going to do it! What an awesome, awesome guy. I found it so easy to talk to him…and was so relaxed. After the meeting, I put my fear aside and introduced myself to other photographers. And was shocked when some already knew who I was and gave me praise on my work.
From this meeting, I have decided to stop being my own worse critic and to just be me. I will put my heart into my work and give 100%. If another photographer doesn’t like my work…that is them. I will only please God, my clients and myself. I have met and have been keeping in contact with some awesome colleagues who I know will help me instead of bring me down. Their uplifting words and advice have been great.
I would also like to thank Scarlett Lillian for making this all possible and for choosing to be bold and to be our fearless leader here in Jacksonville. It was great talking to you…again and talking to Stephen Knuth on the phone…lol! ( i felt like a dork, by the way)

P.S. I HATE photos of myself so I am stepping out big time by even posting these…lol

Dane And I

My colleague and friend, Dawn McCarthy

Lose weight!!
lol
I know this so random but I have to share this…
At the end of 2009 I put myself on a mission to lose weight. I have a personal trainer, Earnest…who is awesome. If you military wives need a personal trainer to keep your butt in gear go to the fitness center on base and ask for Earnest…HE’s FREE!!!
Anyway… I have a personal trainer, I go to the doctor monthly to get weight checks, blood work to make sure I am not losing any calcium because when you work out and lose weight you can lose bone calcium or something like that … anyway…
I started, in January, waking up every morning and drinking hot lemon water. It jump starts my day and I noticed it has helped shed pounds. I also googled it and it does help. IF I did this everyday, I would probably be shedding more quickly. Not only does it shed pounds it does wonder to give you a nice glow

I should be getting paid to advertise lemons….[and Earnest]

I was going through my photos deleting them and I came across this photo that I was so about to toss…but something about it made me want to keep it.
I dont know what it is about it but I love this photo or maybe its just my mommy goggles again… they get me the most sometimes :/

I had the opportunity to go to a studio that just so happened to be right in my own neighborhood and do a studio workshop.
I have studio lights here at my home “studio” but I use natural light as well as artificial when I set mine up.
I didn’t really like the way my shots came out of the baby in studio because we were so far back that I couldn’t even get a decent shot. It was a learning experience and I found out that me and the owner are neighbors. How cool is that?!? After doing the in studio session we went outdoors with the other owner, Jaime Smith and captured a baby on location in Green Cove Springs. He was such a doll face! It was really bright out that morning but I’ve learned to embrace harsh daylight and have stopped my love-hate relationship with it!

Thank you Melanie and Kara for organizing this group. And thank you Stacy and Jaime for taking the time to educate us on studio lighting and taking the time to answer our questions as well as give business advice. See you gals around the neighborhood

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I met makeup artist, Allison LaCour at a celebration of life party for her friend, Nicole. We talked for a little while at the party about getting together to do a shoot but with her living in Orlando it made it a little hard to get together so we both just pulled a random date and hoped it worked for the other and it did!

Allison and the 2 models, Lauren and Thrisha drove up to Jacksonville and we shot for 5 hours! YES…5 hours, lol! Well 4 technically since the 1st hour was makeup.
Allison’s brother owns a clothing line too Maison LaCour. Look him up!

I thoroughly enjoyed this shoot. I could actually see myself working closely with makeup artists and models. I would really love to finally say I JUST do [such and such] photography. As much as I would love to be one of those photographers who were all things to all people…I just feel like I’m pulling myself in too many directions at once. I do love my babies though and that is where my passion is. And that is where I want to focus my attention this year is working closely with newborns and families. I feel as though that is where I am being lead to do. Anyway…I got really off track there…
So here is the beautiful Lauren and Thrisha! Thank you again, Allison for driving to Jacksonville so we could get together. I am looking forward to our next photo shoot. It will definitely be tons of fun!!

This is one is my favorite

*this Photo I did nothing too excpet watermark…I kind of just liked it as is so I kept it that way. Its not even perfect technically but… I like it!

All of you Jacksonville people know we were freezing when we were in the 20-30 degree weather. I had to keep reminding myself I was in Florida.

I discussed with my k ids that I wanted to take a picture of them each week so they were more than willing to participate. Well… Trinity was all for it until we got outside and she had to go to bathroom, pick some weeds, watch the birds fly by, look at the dog barking next door. I get what I can get with that child.
So heres my week #2

I am joining a lot of other people and am going to try to keep this personal project. I would like to take a picture a week of my own children but I may just add everyday things that catch my eye.

so this is my first picture.
No real story behind it…my little girl was sleeping soundly beside me on the couch and her lashes caught my eye. That’s it…nothing more….so I just “snapped”