If I was a sculptor and asked what I was impassioned to create,
my answer would always be a woman.
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If I was a sculptor and asked what I was impassioned to create,
my answer would always be a woman.
Read MoreWhen mom texted me out of the blue, "I have been so excited to text you!! I wanted to see what your schedule was like come June. I want to schedule some pictures with you and my family once the baby is about 1. I’m hoping to recreate a montage on our wall like you did, which is still the best investment we have ever made." I was beaming.
We've shared texts of inspiration and I've started pulling wardrobe ideas.
We will be doing most of our planning S L O W L Y while she is with her family on their yearly trip to Europe.
This is why I will never be a volume based photographer.
Families invest not only in me but also in their family memories.
I will never take that for granted.
Read MoreI was asked to present, as well as lead a styled shoot, at a workshop recently. I knew that I didn’t want a “model” who just showed up at the time of the session and that for this to be meaningful I needed to take the attendees through my process. That meant that I was going to take the woman I would be photographing through my entire process.
Read MoreIt came full circle last week. Maeve came to a show that was featuring one of my pieces. She had never been to a gallery show I was in. I will never forget the feeling I had when her and Matt walked through the door of the building and she saw me. She wrapped her arms around me and was so excited. She had me show her the art and then, lastly, we turned the corner and I said, “Do you remember seeing this in our house? This is the art piece.” She smiled and even gave me a kiss.
She was proud of me.
I was proud of me.
I’m crying writing this and thinking about that moment.
I used to do this for me. I still do this for me. But, now I have her watching. I have a responsibility to show her that we have the chance to find a way to serve others while serving ourselves. That mommy follows her dreams every day and she can do the same.
I thought my daughter would be the death of my business, but instead, she grew it in ways I’ll never be able to quantify.
Read MoreI talk a lot about my journey into boudoir.
How it started from a place of darkness and loneliness in my own life. A place of feeling invisible.
Photographing women, giving them a chance to feel seen and have a holistic experience, tricked my brain into thinking that I could give that back to myself. And, it worked.
It gave me the strength to make the changes I needed in my life to get to a place of wholeness and growth. Their bravery was a domino effect and mine soon followed. Okay, maybe a couple of years later, but it still followed and I know that these women had a lot to do with it. How could they not? By creating art with them, our stories were intertwined. I couldn’t tell my story without them and vise versa.
This leads me to my feelings on art being inherently selfish.
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