I’ve never been one for making New Year Resolutions or making ‘bucket lists’ but I think it might be time to start. 2011 is going to mark a year of growth, firsts, and happiness for me. I no longer am tethered down by social stigmas or fake expectations and I’m all about personal growth {always have been} so I think it’s about time I set goals and make resolutions, and–wait for it…–actually STICK TO THEM! I think though, I work better thinking of these things as goals. I’m a goal person. If I have a goal it takes a lot of effort to keep me from it, not that I will always get there in the perfect and desirable way, but I usually get there. Also, I don’t intend to make goals that are beyond reach. I don’t do good with numbers, so I am not going to give myself amounts, or time limits. I’m not a number person. I’m terrible at math. I won’t do it. While my goals may seem mundane and maybe even a little too lucid, they are my goals nonetheless.
Here they are:
1. Keep my work flow organized and my workload manageable. Do a better job cataloging pictures.
2. Step out of my comfort zone as much as possible.
3. Take more pictures.
4. Read more books. I know I said I wouldn’t do numbers but seriously, {Read more than once a month}. Read books that I want to read. Inversely, hopefully I won’t watch as much TV.
5. Work out/exercise more regularly. Cook more fresh food meals.
6. Blog. Post regularly, stay interesting {hah!}.
7. Paint my nails more regularly.
8. Plan the wedding of my dreams, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
9. Enjoy my wedding day.
10. Take time to appreciate everything I have.
In lui of goal number 3, I have taken the correct first steps. Santa was good to me, and so was Amazon.com. I was like a kid in the candy store ordering things here and there. To help me acheive my goal I bought some books AND some new sleek bookshelves! Some of my favorite blog authors have noted books here and there and when I’d hear of one that interested me I’d email it to myself. I never bought any of them, because I never made time to read and didn’t want to spend the money, but like I said, Santa was good to me.
I didn’t want to keep myself locked into one genre, so I picked 8 books that appealed to me from various recommendations. I love books. I just bought 8 new books, and truthfully I probably have a good dozen laying around that I haven’t read yet, or have started reading and never finished. It always seems to happen, where I will start a book with good intentions, and then forget about it, and when I go back to finish it, the bookmark mysteriously fell out–and it had been so long since I had last read it, I couldn’t even make an educated guess as to where I was in the story!
Now the problem occurs to me, I have no idea what to read first. I’m not known for making decisions, {unless we are in a stressful/life threatening situation, then I’m your girl} and so I have just been sitting here looking at my pile trying to decide what to read first! I have time. I am currently finishing Understanding Exposure, by Bryan Peterson. It’s a great read, for anyone. Even if you know what you’re doing its very insightful to the author’s style of photography. If you’re just starting out…pick it up, you’ll learn lots!
So, what should I read first?
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak
Awakening the Quieter Virtures, by Gregory Spencer
Engage, by Brian Solis
The CarbLovers Diet, by Ellen Kunes
Build your Mind, Your body will follow, by Vincent Cocilovo
Great House, by Nicole Krauss
2010 has met any expectations an amateur photographer could dream of! I started the year by being completely intimidated and daunted by this booming industry and felt ill equipped for any grand explorations. However, before I could step on the breaks I talked a couple friends into letting me shoot their weddings pro bono in hopes for experience and to build my portfolio. Very unexpectedly, I ended up shooting SEVERAL weddings this year, even before my friends, and even made a few bucks doing it! I was over the moon! The big hoorah in my mind was getting to that point and I’m there! I put my seatbelt on, and enjoyed the ride balancing, my “big girl” job, school, and wedding planning amongst making time for something I LOVE.
Surprisingly, as much as I really enjoyed shooting weddings this year, I fell in love with taking senior portraits! Maybe because I fell back ten years and remembered the excitement of anticipation of when I got mine done. But I think probably, because they are willing to do just about anything…and it’s their time to shine! I really had fun exploring new poses and talking to them about their life plans, reliving my own experience through them while knowing their parents would probably treasure this little piece of time before letting go of their children to trek on to bigger and better things in their lives.
Because this past year flew by so fast, I never got to really share my sessions with you to the extent I’d have wished. So instead, I am going to do a little series of posts sharing all the shoots from 2010. It’s been a learning process, and I’ve enjoyed every minute!
 Jessica was my first session of the new year! Her mother decided very last minute that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture some images of her only daughter with her first grandchild. Jessica was a trooper, given up until the day of the session, I constantly checked her facebook page to see if that baby had decided to surprise us. Jessica gave birth to little baby Silas just a week after our session! Have you ever seen such a gorgeous pregnant woman?
Lindsay and Brett were so fun! After they got engaged they asked me to join them Downtown Madison and take some pictures of them. We covered A LOT of ground. I think we clocked a good couple miles! It was a gorgeous evening and they were willing to try anything, and so was I. This was my last session with my very first DSLR, so, it holds a very dear place in my heart.
Jenn VanWyk, an awesome local photographer asked me to join her for the wedding of Ashley and John in Verona. {{FREAK OUT}}!! I had admired Jenn’s work for a while prior, and actually hired her to shoot my July 2011 wedding and engagement photos, so I was over-the-moon-and-back excited when she asked me to tag along. I had just decided to purchase my new nikon, and was extremely nervous to have this be my first real wedding, and my first session with my new camera. Jenn made the experience so much fun, and though I may have talked her ear off through my nerves, when I was behind the camera that night, I hadn’t a care in the world! Driving home that night, I was on cloud nine, and I thought to myself, “okay, I can do this.” …
Adam is my fiance’ Ryan’s dear friend. They go WAY back. So when Adam called Ryan and asked if we’d snatch some engagement photos shortly after he proposed to his fiance’ Candice we were both ecstatic! Basically, they are a photographer’s dream–and we couldn’t have had a better evening for shooting! Check these two out! Could they be anymore gorgeous? I had so many favorites from this session I had to close my eyes and let my mouse do the work. . . but really, can just six photos do these two justice? We picked the most gorgeous evening with the most gorgeous light and spent a great evening together taking pictures and talking {listening} about the ‘good old times’. When we finished we shared a glass of wine and cheers to our upcoming weddings–seriously, what more could a girl ask for?
Stay tuned for the rest of my 2010 sessions!
…it means no worries.
Everyone always seems so shocked when the new year rolls around. But honestly, not only do I feel a huge sense of “it’s about time” but also a clamorous sigh of relief!
Adios 2010, you’ve been quite a ride, but it’s {definitely} time to move on!
I have had a love-hate relationship with these past 12 months. They’ve allowed me to grow and foster some of my dreams and have made my passion for photography become so much more–yet they’ve stomped on many of my aspirations with brute force of viking strength. It’s been a bittersweet journey for me. I am unfortuitously (is that a word?) grateful for the support, encouragement and belief so many of you have had in me this year. If I didn’t have such an amazing network of people in my circle achieving my goals would be endlessly tiring. Ya’ll make it bearable.
I have had to accept letting go of a part of my life, that I never thought would leave, without reaching my ultimate goal. School. I have spent 20 years of my life in school. And for that I am blessed. When it comes to the point in your schooling that you have the option to carry on, or not, your education needs to be for you. It needs to be something you enjoy and engage in. Aside for the endless pit of student loans that I have accrued, and the endless roadblocks I continued encountering, I r
ealized that my life wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I didn’t enjoy school, my creativity was drained, and my stress migraines were endless.
Enter, my Nikon d300. At some point in the last few years of schooling I realized that my creative mind was suffering and I needed an outlet outside of work and school–so I got a new camera. 🙂 This may have been one of the best decisions of my life. As trite as it seems, I feel like photography has rejuvenated my soul. And I have been incredibly lucky that people have been able to see that in my work an entrust me to capture many important moments in their lives. So though I have said good-bye to a part of me that I have coddled for so long, I am overjoyed to welcome this new adventure and move on!
I don’t, however, want to forget about 2010 and how remarkable it has been. It’s forced me to grow in ways I’d not have expected. I’ve been in business a little over a year and sometimes it feels like forever … while other times I sit and wonder how this all happened so quickly — just a few months ago I was in a set routine, afraid to lose control of my patterns in life … envying people making a living in the arts. Just a little over a year ago I posted a facebook status update of “I want to be a professional photographer…” as if only a pipe dream. My dad replied something to the order of, “what’s stopping you?”
While I know I have a long road ahead of me, and piles miles high of things yet to learn, I’m more complete than ever. Seriously people, follow your dreams. Man do I love cliche’s! Life is too short to just go through the motions and dream a fantastic dream. When you chase what you are passionate about, you’ll come into contact with an endless variety of other passionate people. I can’t believe what the past year has brought. Being a photographer has fulfilled me and made me, well, me again. That girl who spent most her life (until mid-college and a few years after … those years I started settling for security) creating and getting lost in new ideas. I am a better person because I’m exploring the things I feel made to do — no longer negative, bored, or insecure (not all the time, anyway :)). I can give and be more to others because I am pursuing what matters most to me.
Thanks 2010– 2011, I have even bigger hopes for you.
THANK YOU! to all of my clients, family and friends, old & new…you rock my world!
Okay, so it may be a little too late for this year, but a tradition worth remembering for next!
My best friend’s brother found this and shared it, and I’m so glad he did!!
The magic of Christmas never underwhelms me. Even now at the “ripe” old age of 27 (in two weeks). Everything about it gets me all verklempt.
Every year I wonder, “Is this the year I will be able to sleep through the night,” {Without visions of sugar plums and fairies dancing through my head}? The funny part is, it isn’t the presents, or the cookies I remember so fondly. It’s the smells, facial expressions, and traditions. The vision of our tree, and the endless moments my mother would spend sewing needles through popcorn and cranberries…even after the dog callously ate half. The luminaries that lined the neighborhood, and my imagination telling me, “Santa surely will not miss our house!” The anticipation of being in the same room with family and friends who filled my heart, and the excitement of sharing what Santa had brought me. Holding babies new to the family and playing with the old. The taste of my favorite chip dip, and the mustache of my father’s famous eggnog. The bells that hung on our doorknob being rung, while all the little feet scampered to see if Santa had come. Laying out carrots and finding reindeer prints in the snow and crumbs only on the plate because with Santa around, that’s a cookie’s only fate! I remember my father reading from the bible trying to explain, the reason for being on those glorious nights.
It’s possible the experience was only so unforgettable because I had parents who were willing to give us everything they had, year after year, and who wanted us to have the experience every child should get even if only once. And though I don’t have my own little ones just yet, I’d imagine Christmas morning can be one of those moments for parents when they sit back and relish in their lives and the happiness in their child’s hearts. I cannot wait to do that for my kids, knowing for me that it isn’t about the gifts but the season, and the experience. THAT is why I am IN LOVE with this product!
Elf On A Shelf
Really, you don’t need the actual product for the full effect (though the website is fun!). However, with this product you get the elf and a great book to tell you about his story and reason for being. The idea behind this product is what is really neat. This elf “magically” arrives sometime during the Christmas season. Then,( you can make your own tradition), you have you’re child(ren) tell him what they want for Christmas. The next morning the Elf is gone! Or just simply moved to a different location in the house, keeping an eye on the little ones to report back whether they’ve been naughty or nice! Randomly the elf can appear back in their bedroom, or on the fireplace mantel, or wherever you’d like! Just imagine the anticipation of a little mind wondering if Mr. Elf would arrive!
I did a little google search and found these PRECIOUS pictures! And fun little stories on fellow blogger sites to go along with them:
http://www.curtistucker.com/elf-on-a-shelf/
http://scjohnsons.blogspot.com/2007/12/elf-on-shelf.html
Seriously, look at that face!! This is the magic of the season, people!! I am going to start keeping my eyes out for the best little shelf elf for my little ones….I’ve got time 😉
Enjoy! Happy Holidays!!
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jamie - I recommend hunger games – I haven’t heard of any of the others though. You should start going to your library if you are looking to read more. Sometimes I don’t have a lot of time to read but they set a lot of books of short stories or novellas on display 🙂