This past Wednesday Brie and I attended a Tampa Photoclub meeting hosted by Divine Light Wedding Photography. It was my first time going to one of their get-togethers and I hope it won’t be my last – what fun it was! This month’s focus was on photographing children. We all went to a playground down the road from the DL Studio, and once there, the little models were free to play and run, and we to run after them with our cameras. These are some of my photos from the day.

I like comfortable clothes. Sometimes I like them just a little too much, which can lead me to staying in my pajamas most of the day. My love of soft cardigans and slip-on flats has often earned my style the description of being…well, let’s just say beyond my years. Below are a few pieces of clothing that are easy-going without being sloppy, in my opinion. Gray (or is it “grey”? I never know) always makes me cozy, and I like the “lounge” feel of open-front wraps. The Vans pictured here I recently purchased and they are great – however, my oldest sister tells me she could have found the same shoe at Walmart. Maybe she’s right. In an effort to add a little sparkle to this simple, everyday look, I am trying to accessorize with jewelry more, like the bow ring.

“The finest clothing made is a person’s skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.” – Mark Twain

Hey Seniors! If you’re graduating this year, it’s time to get serious about making plans for YOUR Senior Portraits. Check out this page to see just a sampling of the kind of images you can expect from us. If you’re looking for something young, fresh and modern, book a Senior Portrait Session with us today! Call me, Brie at (727) 458-0135, and we can talk about all your ideas, I’ll answer any questions you may have and we can get something set up right away. Bonus, we can also design custom Graduation Announcements with the images from your session. We can talk about that when you call to book a session.

This is an interesting blog post. I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while now but I’ve put it off because, well let’s just be honest, I was afraid of what people would think of me. Boo. Carissa encouraged me to just keep it real and tell it like it is. So I think I will. This will be long and it has no pictures and if you didn’t want to read it, I would understand. But here goes….

I bought my first DSLR almost 7 months ago, back in July ‘09. I felt like I needed to have an upgrade from a point-and-shoot camera to go along with my graphic/interior design work and thought it would be a good time to purchase one before our big summer trip. I was beyond excited for the UPS guy to deliver my camera that Friday in July. Every time I heard a loud truck go by I’d peek out the window in hopes that it had arrived. Immediately upon using my new camera I realized that what I had was gold! Gold, I tell you!! I couldn’t believe how different it was from my little Casio p+s camera. Taking pictures just got a whole lot more fun and interesting! I really had no idea just how interesting the whole photography thing was as I pretty much remained clueless for about a month and a half while I tried to figure out how to use my camera. Or rather, tried to figure out how to make it do what I wanted. (It’s very easy to use a DSLR exactly like a p+s camera, but why would you want to?) I bought the Dummies version manual for my camera which was a really good tool for helping me to navigate through all those foreign camera terms like aperture and ISO and metering. Let’s just be honest here. I had absolutely no clue about any of those things before I got my camera. Not. A. Single. Clue. But I studied and I fiddled and I studied and I fiddled until little by little it started to make perfect sense to me. Most of this studying and learning occurred while I was on vacation out west in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. I took in plenty of scenery on all the long drives but I must confess that I used my Google phone to the max, pouring over articles from Digital Photography School. Yes, I actually had reception at the Grand Canyon. And yes I sat on the big leather couch in the Grand Canyon Lodge overlooking the north rim reading about the difference between prime lenses and zoom lenses. What can I say? I was thriving on all of this new information, soaking it all up like a sponge and eager to know everything I could possibly cram into my brain.

One night while we were hooked up to one of those rare RV sites that had internet access, I discovered the in-depth world of photography blogs via my favorite website of the moment, again, Digital Photography School. It was as if someone was violently shaking me by the shoulders saying “Hellllooooooooo?!?!” Somehow in my crazy little brain I had a crazy little thought that began to grow exponentially with every new hit on every new blog I’d visit. Photography. Weddings. People. Beauty. Women. Young women. Women like me. With their own businesses. Over and over again. Laying in my little bed in the RV while I browsed the beautiful work of Jasmine Star and Stephanie Fay (both photographers I discovered ON that trip) I came to the realization that I was at a turning point not only with my interest in photography but with the direction of my entire life. I am so not being dramatic right now! It’s true! It was a total paradigm shift. I am sure my husband is still partially blinded by all of the lightbulbs that were going off in my head during that time. This is not even to mention the state of breathtaking awe we found ourselves in at the sight of God’s magnificent creation all around us. Bryce Canyon. If you haven’t been, let me warn you, you will probably cry at the sight of it. I did. Sure, the Grand Canyon IS truly grand and amazing and all that but Bryce Canyon is just so freakily incredible, it’s like God is in every spooky spire yelling “love me, fear me because I created this craziness and I am awesome”! (If you want to love God more, sometimes you just need to be reminded of His awesomeness.) Anyway, whether it was our amazement at being able to take a TWO week vacation or the fact that we were probably just high on the elevation, we were getting pretty excited about all the possibilities of this whole “photography thing”. By the time we’d settled into our one night stay in Sedona, AZ, I had already typed up an email to send Carissa (my one friend I knew who was interested in photography) saying “Hey, would you ever consider going into the photography business……..”.

I crossed my fingers, eagerly awaiting her reply to my email. Days and days passed and I soon discovered that Carissa doesn’t reply to email so I waited until she could hear my breathless speech of excitement in person. She warmed to the idea quicker than I expected and before I knew it, we were starting a business together. Say what now?!?! That’s how it went down. Just like that. Plans seemed to almost materialize out of thin air and everything began to click into place. We realized that we were a match made in heaven and we found we both inspired the other in ways we never imagined possible. We immediately set up our website and began telling everyone we knew about our new “business.” Pretty soon we were scheduling session after session and, five months later, found ourselves still busy right up until a few days before Christmas. We took some time off after that to rest but reconvened in the new year to talk about plans and ideas for expanding our business to wedding photography. I don’t quite know how I got from my inspirational vacation out west to having strategizing meetings with Carissa for marketing and booking weddings, but here we are.

A little more insight:
For me, the world of photography felt like reuniting with a long lost sibling. (Ok, that’s a bit dramatic.) I just felt that with my interest in design and creativity, photography was a completely natural avenue. It began to feel like something I could truly excel at and settle down with, even way beyond what I’ve done in the past with graphic and web design. I’m not saying that I am in favor of abandoning everything you know once you find a new passion but there was a very real sense for me that I had finally found an occupational direction for my life. After 25 years no less. As much as I appreciate all the graphic and web design work I’ve been given over the years, I have never once considered myself a graphic designer. In fact, I really only pursued graphic/web design because people wanted me to do some work for them. It started a cycle that I could never break or felt that I ought not break, because after all, I can’t very well turn down a job can I? I spent 1.5 years trying to start an interior design consulting business that kept getting waylaid month after month because I was doing work for others. It was extremely frustrating for me. Paid work is a lovely thing but you know something has to change when you can’t find the time to work on important things in your own life. Now I am learning that I simply cannot keep every plate spinning anymore. I cannot excel in any one area when I am dabbled in too many things at once. That’s why I told myself half-way through 2009 that I would no longer build websites, even if I got a job offer. In 2010 I am telling myself that I will not take on any new graphic design clients, even if it means, again, turning down business. Incredibly, it seems that something similar is happening for my piano teaching business. I’m perplexed that I have as few students as I did when I began my business 12 years ago yet I prayed that it would become clear to me if teaching was something I needed to lay down. No students, no provision, no teaching? It might be clearer than I’m willing to admit.

Needless to say, letting go of things I never thought I’d see the end of is both on-the-edge-of-my-seat exciting and jump-into-the-pitch-black-abyss freaky. Fortunately, there is an unmistakable sense that God is the one who came up with this crazy, hair-brained scheme before we ever did. Yes, it IS crazy. I never would have considered or even imagined doing this. But He knew all along and that makes this journey all the more legit. (Did you know that it was more cool to say the word legit than the word legitimate? I didn’t know that either.)

[Shoot, I think I just wrote a dang novel. Blessings to you if you made it this far.]

1. Develop a brand image for Grace Leigh Photography
2. Design business cards and postcards and other promotional materials for GLP
3. Book our FIRST wedding so I can…
4. Buy the Canon 135mm f2.0 lens
5. Re-design the portfolio section of this website
6. Start making Facebook a vital part of our business
7. Create a fast and efficient workflow for getting images ready for the web
8. Learn to take video with the MKII so we can have interviews for our website
9. Order photo books/albums to show clients how pretty our photos look in print
10. Order large prints and canvas wraps for display in our in-home studio
11. Become friends with other photographers in my area
12. Become friends with other photographers NOT in my area
13. Use my day planner for writing to-do lists that I’ll actually check off
14. Dream about going to Europe with my husband and watch the Travel Channel instead
15. Buy a Fujifilm Instax MINI 7s
16. Learn how to set up our own photo booth as a potential side business for GLP
17. Sort through our vacation photos from the last 3 years and make at least one photo book
18. Take the gigantic log out of my eye. And then take the gigantic log out of my other eye.
19. Re-design the second bedroom for a nursery/hang-out-room-until-we-have-a-baby
20. Get rid of a piece of clothing whenever I buy something new (don’t worry, it’ll be donated)
21. PLAY MORE MUSIC!
22. LISTEN TO MORE MUSIC!
23. BE MORE INSPIRED MUSICALLY!
24. MUSIC!
25. Go to at least one Chick-Fil-A grand opening (don’t hate)
26. Get control of the clutter in my house and keep it to a bare minimum
27. Eat out less, cook in more
28. Stop using plastic grocery bags and use my shiny new Baggus instead
29. Wear skuzzo cheapy flip flops as little as possible
30. Go to the beach more! (flip-flops ok here)
31. Be able to run 2 miles straight ( I know, I’m weak, I can only do 1.5)
32. Record an album with my band, Old North East
33. Stop buying thrifted chairs that take up space in my house
34. Love others way, way more than I love myself.
35. Plan our next snowboarding trip, and keep watching the Travel Channel
36. Hang that last stainless shelf in the kitchen from 1.5 years ago
37. Paint the final top coat on the kitchen cabinets, also from 1.5 years ago
38. Sell ALL of our unused furniture on Craigslist
39. Wrap a canvas with my Marimekko cloth from NYC, and hang it on the wall
40. Turn 25
41. Get….pregnant?
42. Woah woah, who put that in there? Daaaaaaave..….?
43. Keep a personal blog AND a business blog
44. Develop blog weeklies/monthlies so blog maintenance is easy
45. Encourage others more by sending notes/emails/texts instead of keeping those happy thoughts in my head
46. Study my Bible more and let it’s truths inform how I live
47. Spend more time with my Momma because she is the BEST!
48. Find a good produce market in my area
49. Learn to make good sandwich bread
50. Learn to make sprouted grain bread
51. Learn to successfully soak beans instead of using the canned variety
52. Learn to blanch and freeze fresh produce so nothing goes to waste
53. Learn to make steel cut oats in a crock pot
54. Eliminate boxed cereals from our grocery budget
55. Eliminate store bought sandwich bread from our grocery budget
56. Drink at least two mugs of green tea a day
57. Go camping! Preferably in the Tetons.
58. Do something with all those old beach towels
59. Plan to go to Imaging USA 2011
60. Hope my MacBookPro has another good year in it
61. Read fewer photography blogs and spend more time perfecting my own craft
62. Read MORE MORE MORE! (just not blogs)
63. Go Kayaking in Boca Grande

I’m sure there are many more bullet points so perhaps we should consider this “Part One”.