I just joined a new website called Wedding Wire. So far so good and I think this will be a good spot for me to find couples looking for a wedding photographer. I have already emailed some past/present clients and have three reviews! I am excited! If you are reading this and I have taken pictures for you, it would LOVE it if you were to leave a review! If you are interested in my work for your wedding, please check out my reviews and give me a shout! Fun fun!
~thank you!~
Yes, I admit, I don’t talk too much about myself here. I have a family blog for things that go on every day and I use it often. It’s not that I am a private person or shy, I just don’t think you are too interested in what I eat in the morning and how smoothly or not my day goes. I could be wrong. There are tons of reality shows out there so there must me something to showing off your daily do’s. Alas, I am not stinkin’ rich (yet) not do I have an tasteless videos on the web (whew! my mom would kill me!).
When I started shooting pics I knew almost all of the pros in my area of Nova Scotia and there was plenty of work to go around. Facebook was new and not the ‘verb’ it is today: “I will Facebook you the link”. (Sounds so violent!)
Skip forward the present and the amount of people photographing for pay means there are more photographers than work to go around.
I took last year off from shooting weddings (except one which was super-fun) and decided to second shoot for a few friends and do some portraiture work instead. I needed the break away from the craziness of the biz mixed in with the craziness of family life which includes home schooling my kids. I am not the best at scheduling things so lessons are a challenge some days and I have to let the blogging wait and the laundry. Don’t tell anyone there are three loads sitting in the back room waiting to be folded. My kids have their math books out but one is one the toilet looking at the wall map outside the door and talking about how far Africa is away from the Bahamas. Awesome! Still learning even on the toilet.
The year away from a crazy busy business life was much needed to make me realize how much I love shooting. I realized that I really miss when I don’t have a camera in my hand. It’s a kind of aching feeling. And it reminded me that although I do need to shoot for a fee so I can feed my children (they eat sooo much!) and keep my gear updated, it’s not about the money. I don’t put a camera in my hand first and foremost to make money. I do it because it’s a passion. I am a very visual person and a very hands-on person. The feel of my camera in my hand is like a teddy bear. It feels right and it fits just so. It’s comforting. Weird but true.
To start things off I will say this: last night I stayed up until the wee hours working on business stuff and getting stuck on some gardening pages along the way. I am determined to start a veg garden this year as we are vegetarians around here and so of course, we eat a ton of those wonderful things. Plus, I long to be more self-sufficient. After reading Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie with my boys I at times long for an easier way of life. In some ways of course, but not all. I love plumbing. It’s amazing. I love email. Beats snail mail on a busy day. To walk out into my back yard and pick our food for the day is just so dreamy!!! Heavenly!
I digress. I do that.
I always have a tea in the morning and am admittedly an Early Grey fiend of all kinds. Today it was Organic Creamy Earl Grey from David’s Teas. I buy the tins of these wonderful elixers so that I can have one whenever I wish. But, after the tea I needed more. I longed for a cup of coffee. I am not a coffee drinker. When I do drink it I use a lot of sugar and ‘milk’. It must be hot or it’s gross so it does get heated up a lot before it’s finished. I am blood type A so according to the Eat Right for your Type book coffee is highly beneficial. I remind myself of this when I justify making myself a cup. We do drink organic free range but still I try to keep the caffeine to a minimum. I know, I could have worse vices.
For someone who can’t stand it when someone can’t just get to the point I am such a hypocrite right now! What was my point? That I need to show you more of me and this is just the beginning. So, here’s a pic with my iPhone (it’s so handy!) of one of my vices – warm caffeinated beverages. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…………….
Aaaaah, good coffee.
..now back to the math and the laundry…and heating up my coffee for the second time!
~happy day everyone~
I admit, I haven’t been keeping up with my blogging. I am a bad person. Well, not really, just so busy, like all of us and trying to get my priorities in order. It is tough when you have soooo many!! But, amidst all the craziness of life and getting back to shooting and blogging I wanted to post this wonderful note on art that I saw on Jasmine Star’s blog (I think but can’t find the post!) a loooong while back. I have to do a presentation on how to teach art to children (home school) the classical way and somehow, that reminded me of this and how life used to be when I had more time for my (personal) art, when I did it for me and didn’t care what others thought. Now, there is little time for art and I am always (I think) too hard on myself. How does the saying go?: Art for Art’s Sake. That’s the best kind.
Oh, and I couldn’t help but laugh my head off at this post on Jasmine Star’s site. Hilarious! Seriously, check it out or you are soooo boring! (kidding)
~supersmile~
I wanted to grab a quick pic of me with my boys before tomorrow. I will be 40 on March 29. Wow, crazy. Now, I could have dolled myself up and super photoshopped this pic. But, I wanted to do something that reminds me of the days we just get to hang out together at home because those are the best. Yes, it’s orangy, no matter, even with custom white balance. I love our orange walls and they show – haha! Steve held one side of my camera while I held the other. Not a bad job plus it’s manual focused as a guess in distance as I changed my focus button location – can’t reach it from the front now.
Nonetheless, it’s a quick pic of us one last time before tomorrow. I am going to go now and take a bath and reflect and write some ‘to do’s’ for the years to come. It’s gonna be good.
~super smile super love~
Shannon and I had been trying to get together to do some portraits as time was running out. You know, that time where suddenly there is babe in arms and no babe in belly? Well, the weather out here in Nova Scotia hasn’t been very co-operative lately and last fall was no exception, again. We finally managed to get us all together on a fairly mild November day for a quick shoot before Otis just couldn’t take being on the leash any more or sweet little E. had just had enough. Such a sweet, blue-eyed little guy! And, he was wonderful, I must say! Little baby L was born just the next week. Whew!
I wish, oh I wish, this will help Spring…spring! I want to start shooting again outside in the warmth of the sun and the fresh air! Do you hear me???
Okay, so I know that the weather here in damp Nova Scotia isn’t all that great right now, but maybe seeing some awesome duds will bring spring a little early!
Right now, I wish I were a little girl: Love those red boots!
I read this today and had to share it here. Please go to this blog and ready the letter that she has posted. It’s very poignant and sad at the same time. We love our families dearly and as time flies by, so do chances to really live in the moment with them, if we are busy busying ourselves with other things. Every day I thank God for my blessings and am fortunate that, being a photographer, I can take priceless images of my loved ones to cherish always, that bring out their character and amazing uniqueness that is only theirs. For as time passes, we have our memories and the pictures that are partners to these memories, bringing us back to wonderful times and cherishing them, and hopefully, cherishing those moments to come.
Happy 2012 and I wish you all every moment of blessedness.
So, today I had a half hour before starting dinner and I thought it would be a great time to do a post (which won out over editing). But instead, I got caught up with the current tab open which was my Google Reader. Within Reader you can subscribe to various blogs without having to leave the Reader site. Pretty cool. I have 385 unread posts from other blogs and counting. I don’t get to it often, but at times, it can be photographically inspirational and sometimes spiritually.
Today, I became absorbed in Natalie Norton, a wonderful photographer whose blog I’d found over a year ago, although I don’t recall how. She has been through hell and back and always gets me ‘right there’ with her words. I either leave her blog tearful from sorrow of her past loss or inspired by her strength, or both. She is amazing.
I copied this from her blog and plan to use something like it for myself as a reminder each day (especially the tough days which are sometimes more abundant than they should be):
My commitment moving forward
1. I will thank God for my blessings every, single day.
2. I will LOVE and CHERISH my living children. . . in honor of Almira. . . who could not do so for her own. (not sure who Almira is but need to check it out)
3. I will continue the legacy of service left by brave and beautiful Lucy. I will not wallow in grief or hide behind self-pity and doubt; I will step forward and lose myself in doing good, every day, and always. (Lucy, not sure…)
4. I will continue to write, that my children (and theirs) might know me, completely–that they might know my deep, abiding love for them and for that God who gives us life. I will write the TRUTH, as I see it, from the bottom of my soul.
5. I will seek God more completely. I will strive to know him more intimately, through sincere prayer, openly expressed gratitude, and daily study of his inspired word.
Aloooooha, N
Check out her blog if you get a moment. You may need more than a moment. 
I will try to post my own commitment soon…for sure.
