When you shine...

Do you remember that quote about not acting small?  About not hiding your light, for the comfort of others?  But that that light was put inside you as a reason to shine, which inspires others to let loose their own glow.  

This mom is one of thems.  One that just shines, she's not apologetic about the fact that she physically beautiful and soulfully graceful.  She glories in her three sons and her role as their mother.  When you get to have a conversation with her, she's genuinely interested in your thoughts and opinions.  Which makes you shine a little bit, feeling worthy of the attention for a minute.  

I love getting to photograph women like that, and their families.  They remind me to shine my light.  

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson

Royalty

This was a new family photo location, here in Gilbert AZ that I wanted to add into the rotation last Fall.  And the perfect family signed up for it's first go round.  The R family has one very royal princess and two dashing princes.

As soon as we arrived we took a tour of the castle grounds.  We saw the Round Table for the Knights, we saw the grand ballroom, and then we explained we were here to take the Royal Pictures.  The kids were immediately in on the game and played their parts perfectly.

Anyone can take family pictures.  This family also made a really wonderful family memory.  Thank you Merri!!

Learning Me

So I just came back from an amazing workshop with the awesome team of Wendy + Tyler of Blue Lily Photography.  Blog post to come.  But one of my biggest takeaways is that I have the MOST fun doing my job when I'm with clients that I love.  That's also when I produce my BEST work.  And it stands to reason that I will attract clients that I get along really well with, when they really know me BEFORE they book me.

I realized that communicating me and my style and my personality, through my marketing is pretty imperative, both to my quality of work and my enjoyment of this craft.  So priority 1 of the moment; which part of me am I going to share?  How honest am I going to get?  How much authenticity do my clients deserve?  I'm going to go with, a whole lots.

And this session is an excellent example of that.  Because this Mama and I were set up by mutual friends, it was easier to get real in a short amount of time.  And that resulted in one of my favorite sessions of the season.  Sure, the light was fabulous and her styling was on point.  But really it was the fact that Mama was happy to show me her real smile, her real self, and her whole family followed suit.

Real can be real beautiful.

And this Mama has just started a blog I think I'll actually read for awhile.  Check out http://treehousehistory.blogspot.com/ if you're into real.  

Avoiding "The Prom".

I don't do weddings.  I tried a small backyard ceremony once, and I learned quickly, it's just not my thing.

But families are my thing.  And a really important part of family photo sessions for me, is the Mom + Dad time.  It's a priority for me.  Mom took a lot of time to look gorgeous, Dad is trying his darndest to enjoy the process, and often the photos I take of them in our family photo shoot, are the first professional pictures of just the two of them they've had since their wedding.

But here's the thing.  I was really not good at it.  My whole session would flow great, and then we'd get to Mom and Dad, and I'd tense up and get nervous and before you knew it, it was looking like Prom from 1992.  Not kidding.

I decided I needed help and pronto, before the busy season began.  And I could not afford to waste my time or money.  So I enlisted the help of Amy and Jordan Demos, premiere wedding photographers here in Phoenix.  When I saw their engagement photos, I saw connection, and movement, and light.  All things I needed and wanted.  Teach me!

And they did.  I got them all to myself for 3 hours one beautiful afternoon.  And after I had absorbed their incredible brain dump, I mean really, they just opened up their couple posing toolbox and said "Have at it!", they even let me run through a whole practice session with them.  We wrapped up doing another practice session on my good friends, Ryan and Michelle of Michelle Unscripted.

 Not only have we been friends for a couple decades now, they're also incredible photographers.  So yeah, a little nerve-wracking.

But look at this!  I mean, seriously!  Huge improvement and in the nick of time.  Any of my clients from this last season will recognize my new bag of tricks.  Now instead of dreading the Mom + Dad time of the photo shoot, I really look forward to it!

Hurray for Amy and Jordan!  You saved dozens of parents from the woes of looking "Under the Sea" circa 1994.

That's me.  And The Demos.  Seriously.  

Such a fun couple and amazing teachers!

Family Pictures at the Farm

When you have a family whose go-to weekend activity is going hunting together, you know you need a beautiful outdoor setting for their family pictures.  And there's nothing better than the private farm here in Gilbert.

It was so fun to play with three teenagers and then let the little one be his own star.  We played A LOT of running games that day and it reminded me that that's a huge joy of childhood.  Finding a wide open space and just RUNNING.

That is until we almost ran into the snake.  Then we stopped.  Some of us screamed and ran away.  Others said "Cool!" and went in for a closer look.  I might have been the former.

Cotton fields? Check.

You gotta be open to new things, right?  So when a long time client says, "I want to do cotton fields this year."  And even though you've heard, gulp, snakes exist in said fields, you push down the anxiety and you say, YES.  Especially when she called the farmer herself and got permission.  Let's do this!

No snakes that day (that was the next weekend on the horse property.  seriously.).  Just the most amazing sky and bright, white cotton, and two gorgeous boys.  And can we talk about Mom's hair?!  I mean, seriously.

I am one of those rare Arizona natives (of my generation), I grew up on the west side of town, surrounded by cotton fields.  I remember field trips just about every year, learning all about how it grew, how it became our clothes, when the cotton gin was invented, and all the good stuff.  It was pretty surreal to be in the middle of it again.  This time as a mom, helping another mom, make some memories with her own sweet kids.  Life get so crazy sometimes, it's nice to appreciate the full circle it makes.

I remember the blur

I remember.  I remember leaving for the hospital to have my second, thinking I was leaving a baby boy at home.  I came home 3 days later, newborn in tow and realized "He's huge!  He's practically full grown!"

Jonah was 21 months when Marcus joined our family.  Jo became a Big Boy instantly.  And I became outnumbered.  How do you diaper two bums when one of them runs away?  How do you do anything when a toddler needs you just as much as the newborn?

So life became a blur.  I honestly don't remember much about the first two years of Marc's life.  And because that was before the age of cell phone cameras, there aren't too many photos around to help me remember.

I wish I remembered the little stuff.  Cuddling on the couch, playing trains, learning letters.  I know it happened but the memory, it's blurry.

So when Christy contacted me, 7 months along with baby #2, I knew how important this newborn photo shoot could be.  I knew this day at least, wouldn't be a blur.