photographer.

i need to blog. i've been meaning to blog for quite some time about the magic of grandma's house & my family's adventure to jollay orchards. and then i've been meaning to blog about my photography business. and i'm going camping in two days to my favorite place on earth. so what do you think i'll want to blog about in a week? not photography. not grandma's magic house. and not jollay orchards. it's gonna be aaaaall about covered bridge. so, here. let's get out some photography ideas+thoughts while i got them in the forefront of my mind.

i love what i do. like, LOVE what i do. i'm slowly limiting myself to a genre of photography that will allow me to grow, expand, and learn without being too overwhelmed at all the facets of this business.

a photographer is no different than a musician. or an artist. or even a college graduate.

you don't hand a bass to a drummer and tell him to play. you can't tell a sculptor to pick up a paint-brush and copy the mona lisa. and you can't tell an english graduate to start a job in an accounting firm.

in the same way, you can't give a photographer a camera and tell her to take pictures of bands or scenery. photographers too have a specialty. it's not all about picking up a camera + learning to shoot.

when people first heard i was a photographer, they wanted me to take pictures of praise bands and people worshiping. thankful for a chance to work, i accepted it. but i didn't enjoy it. i didn't look forward to it. ever. i kind of dreaded it. and i wondered if this photography thing was even for me. i mean, i loved taking portraits the summer before; why couldn't i do this?

and then i realized, i don't have the passion for that.

i have a strong passion for portraits, engagements, and weddings. in other words, these monumental stages of life -- these get me pumped up + excited.

ever since i was younger, i loved to look at my grandma's photo albums. anything that allowed me to glimpse the woman she used the be. the life she lived. and then, this weekend, i got to sort through black & white pictures of my mama. and i saw her as a baby (with hair sticking straight up), as a teenager, as a beautiful, beautiful woman. all of these stages that i couldn't experience because she was my mama (and i wasn't here yet...obviously :P).

but someone took those pictures. they froze time for a just.a.second so in the years to come, she can look through those pictures and remember just how it felt at-that-very-moment.

life is beautiful, usually in the in-between, but a special kind of magic seems hovering in the air when you're graduating from high-school or getting married to the love of your life. this magic is too precious to let slip away. photographs may be worth a thousand words, but they're always worth a million emotions as well. they tell a story.

i want to paint that story, your story, through my lens. remembering is what is most important to me. i've witnessed people forget. forget special smiles or little hiccups in your day that sparked special new or challenging. every moment here is important and just brimming with potential to be spectacular.

and i don't want you to forget.

that's why i'm here.

i couldn't be here + do what i do without my passion to do it.

i've got it.

i finally understand.