Month: September 2022

One of the coolest thing about this job is getting to watch my client’s children grow and capture those milestones that are so important for familes.  Some of you remember this cute little guy Harper and his mom and dad, Lis and Chris.  I got to take photos of him back in December at 6 months. He was just learning to hold himself up and sit up on his own but he was full of smiles and love for his mom and dad.  My visit this time was pretty amazing. It was fun to see this little guy growing bigger and stronger, but still with a great smile and a desire cheese it up for the camera in an instant.

For our session we spent time strolling Lis and Chris’ neighborhood. It was a GORGEOUS afternoon and it really felt more like the beginnings of spring than summer! Just down the street from Lis and Chris’ house is a little playground. Harper is just starting to learn how much fun the playground really is! At first he wasn’t so sure about going down the slide with mom. But with dad’s help he was all about exploring. I love the sequence below of him attempting to crawl down the slide instead of letting gravity do its job.

For the last part of my visit we simply spent some time enjoying the warm air and letting Baby H. do his thing. He is on the move! Crawling now, but I am sure he will be walking and completely mobile in no time. Watch out mom and dad!

Thanks Lis and Chris for inviting me back to capture these milestones for your family. I hope you enjoy your preview.  I had such a fun time with you guys and can’t wait to see this guy really moving around during my 1 year visit not to long from now!

This week was an exciting mail week!  My new coffee table image box sample arrived and I am so excited to start offering these to clients when they purchase one my digital collections. Each box is custom designed from your session and holds up to 100 5×7 prints.  With a digital collection purchase, BeYoung Photography clients will receive one of these lovely boxes and inside will be each edited image from your session.

I love the simple yet elegant design touches of the black canvas interior and ribbon for easy handling of your prints.  These are a fabulous and personalized way to store and share your images with family and friends for years to come.

Today you are 12 weeks old and just the size of a plum but already you have stolen our hearts.  Your mom and dad have been through a lot this year and we have been wishing and hoping for a long time for you to be strong and healthy.  You also have lots of other family and friends wanting and praying for the same things and you’ll have quite the loving fan base once you arrive.  You’ve caused your mom to be quite tired these past 3 months but she’s just starting to get some energy (and her appetite!) back.

Today your dad, The Calmer, had to really live up to his job.  We took you to the Dr. today for your first checkup. You had your mom tied in knots of nervousness all day long. She thought about your sister alot and how this Dr. was the first to tell us how sick your sister Bella really was and that she was not going to make it into this world.  In the waiting room your dad held your mom’s hand and told her that everything was going to be ok today.

And he was right.

At 12 weeks you have a strong heartbeat of 155 bpm, you’re measuring on target, and according to the doctor you look completely healthy in your first trimester.  Your mom almost broke down in tears on the exam table and your dad was simply beaming.  We aren’t out of the woods yet, but hearing the words strong and healthy made us both breathe a huge sigh of relief. We are so overjoyed to have you enter our world at such an exciting time. You’ll get to come home to our brand new home. And your mom can’t wait to post newborn pictures of you on her photography business website. Keeping growing strong and healthy. We can’t wait to meet you in September.

I have been waiting on pins and needles all week to make this exciting announcement. Now that the LAUNCH workshop is over I am more motivated and determined as ever to get my business off the ground successfully.  And my workshop gave me the tools I need to get where I want to go.  But I need to round out my portfolio a bit more to help me get there. With Spring right around the corner I know many of you are beginning to think about investing in some new family photos. And I would love to be the one to help capture your memories.

For a limited time I will be waiving my session fee and offering 50% off my print, album, and collection pricing to those of you interested in booking a maternity, newborn, child or family session. All I ask is that you’ll sign a model release allowing me to use the images from our session to build my portfolio and use on the web in my promotional materials.  I will provide you with 3 web ready images to share online with friends and family. You will have no print ordering minimums and you’ll have the option to order or not once your images are edited and complete.

I have recently made some changes to my pricing and you’ll now find on my website that my session fee is $150 and my print prices start at $25 with collections starting at $550.

Please get in touch soon if you’re interested in booking me for this fantastic special and want more information on my complete price list.  My weekends are limited and I want to make sure to get your session on my calendar as soon as possible. I am so excited for warmer temperatures, green grass, and blooming trees and flowers. And, I would love to get out in the beautiful Spring weather with you and your family and make some amazing memories.

I must say this photography journey has allowed me to connect and reconnect with some awesome people. Like Leigh and her new fiancee Mark. Leigh and I have know each other since the 7th grade.  In middle school we were both a part of our school’s “Poetry Club” where we became great friends and artistic companions. Then when high school came her family moved a town over and we really lost touch. A few years ago we were reunited at a mutual friend’s wedding and now with the invention of social media we’ve been able to stay connected via Facebook.  Last year after I started my 365 photography project she decided to also take on the challenge as well and we’ve been following each others photography journeys all year.

When Leigh contacted me in February to A) tell me she had gotten engaged and B) ask me to shoot her engagement photos I was absolutely overjoyed and flattered! Leigh and Mark got engaged very recently (Valentine’s Day in fact!) and are planning for a lovely fall wedding in October.  They met in law school at Washington and Lee and are both building their careers in the Northern Virginia area.  For their session they wanted the charm of a campus like Washington and Lee but without the drive back to their old stomping grounds. The Old Town Leesburg area seemed the perfect fit for their photos and we had a fun morning walking the Leesburg courthouse and surrounding streets.

Leigh and Mark were great sports coming out early on what was to be the first “warm” day of March. Little did we know how windy and cold it would still be at 9:30 in the morning. They were all smiles though and we got some great shots, even playing up the “law” theme during our session! The cold also gave these two love birds the perfect opportunity to snuggle and keep warm on the brisk morning.

Thank you so much Leigh and Mark for trusting me with your engagement photos.  I had a great time with you guys, I hope you enjoy your preview, and I can’t wait to get the rest of your photos to you soon!

If you’ve been following along in my journey you may remember this post from back in November.  I had big dreams for my photography and I took a big step to making them a reality. I registered for Stacy Larsen’s LAUNCH weekend. It’s hard to believe that last weekend was IT! I was in Tampa experiencing the LAUNCH weekend.

I have so many things to share about my experience. It was an amazing 3 days. I met some awesome budding photographers, and I learned so much. I need a few more days to put my thoughts about the weekend in order and post what the experience meant to me and how much it helped me grow.

For now, I want to share some of my images from the weekend.  Part of our workshop experience was getting to participate in newborn and family photoshoots.  I can not take credit for a lot of the posing in these shots, but the camera work and edits are all mine.  I am really proud of these shots and am excited to be able to use these in continuing to build my portfolio. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I can hardly contain my excitement today. It’s finally here! The BeYoung Photography webpage is ready today and I couldn’t be happier with it. My webmaster has been working tirelessly this past month listening to my ever changing needs, designing, updating, tweaking, fixing, and installing and we’re finally ready to launch!

In honor of this exciting time, clients who book by February 28th for sessions to occur in March or April will receive their choice of either a complimentary 8×10 or 2 – 5×7 prints from your session. Be sure to head on over to the new site now and click on the Contact tab to book your session early!

BeYoung Photography Website

I’ve recently been turned on to the blog I Heart Faces. The website features some amazing photographers, tips, tricks, and photo contests.  Any level of photographer can join in on the fun over at their webpage and I decided to take the plunge for the first time this week and participate in this week’s contest, “Kisses!”.   I think the expression on Harper’s face while hanging outside with dad on a brisk fall day says it all here.

This week over at the SOAR blog we’ve been challenged by Karen and Fay of the Wisdom Connection to define the good that surrounds us as we embark on our business building adventures. Too often we focus on what needs to be done and less on what is good and solid with our journey.

I know deep down that I have a long road ahead to achieve success.  But this journey almost feels like the insane amounts of snow we’ve had this week here in Virginia (over 30 inches at our house over the past 30 hours!). What starts as just a few flakes, over time collects and accumulates into something much bigger and beautiful.

Right now my own personal snowstorm has just started.  But I think and I hope I have a lot going in my favor to turn this snowstorm into a blizzard.

I have a support network all around me. My family. Friends. Bloggers. Flickerites. SOAR  Sisters.  Every time I am feeling discouraged someone comes around to lift me up and feel like going down this path is right. I love the art of taking photos, but I also love that I can be an inspiration to others. And I’d love to find a way to marry my love of photography with my love of inspiring and teaching others.

I am taking steps to learn and to grow. I’ve attended a few small local workshops. And now I am pumped up to be attending the LAUNCH Workshop for beginner natural light photographers in Tampa in only 2 short weeks. 3 days of learning where I am hoping to gain some knowledge about photography. But even more knowledge about building a successful business.

I also took advantage of a recent sale from one of my new favorite bloggers, Naomi Dunford, of the IttyBiz blog.  I got my hands on an e-book designed to assist small business owners with launching their own e-books. Not sure if an e-book is a direction I’ll go in, but you never know. Maybe an e-book written by me and designed to inspire and teach others how to rock their own photography talents would sell?  Along with the IttyBiz e-book I also scored an hour of business coaching with Naomi. Business coaching scares and excites me all at once. Who do I think I am hiring a business coach?! I don’t have any solid plan yet. But I suppose that’s what she’ll be there to help with. And so I am excited to rock out a plan with her and hopefully put it into action.

Through Karen and Fay’s exercise this week I have discovered What is So in my world. I have drive. I have determination. And I need to turn that into action.  Hopefully my snow will start accumulating soon and the door of opportunity and success will open wide.

What is So in your world right now? Business owner or not what good surrounds you today? I want to hear all about the good things in your life.

Those of you who have been reading awhile know that my word this year is SOAR. The word that will carry me through this year and teach me how to spread my wings and fly with my photography.  Photographer MeRa Koh is hard as work over at the SOAR blog with her team developing the exercises to help us on our journey this year. The first exercise “Doing the Deeper Work” was just that. It required some deep thought and reflection into who were are and where we are on this journey.

Our assignment was this:

This is a Self Portrait Photography Exercise. You will take TWO Self Portraits.  One image will have you in the photo.  The second one will be an object that symbolizes you.  Both Self Portraits are meant to document where you are in your journey of life.  When you think about this present season of life–this monumental moment in your journey of being committed to SOAR!, being on your way to become a successful photographer…How do you feel?   Are you excited, afraid, alone?  What colors are you wearing?  If we saw your true insides, what would they look like right now?  What object would symbolize this time in life?  What angle would you shoot it from and why?

Fortunately the idea of a self portrait exercise did not scare me too much. Through my photography work over the past year via project 365 and this blog I have shared myself pretty openly. My photography has been an emotional healing and I’ve been able to share my daily feelings on life with much compassion and encouragement from those of you that visit.

But summing up ME and my life RIGHT NOW was no easy feat.  I am full of Ideas. Dreams. Possibilities. Creativity. Emotion. Devotion. Compassion.  Drive. Desire. But I have not made it yet. I have a long way to go.  I feel like I am taking the right steps.  I am doing my research and connecting with others who share my dreams. Working hard and practicing.  But I still very much feel like an outsider looking into a world of possibility that I am so wishing was mine. THIS is me.

Part 2 of the exercise was my object photo. Finding something to symbolize me on this journey was a little easier that I expected. I am: Impulsive, Imperfect, and Exploding with Ideas. I am sure when just the right amount of heat and energy hit I am going to just pop right into something amazing.

Only time will tell where this all takes me. But I have dug deeper. Done some of the intense reflection. And I am revitalized and encouraged to stay to course and continue along this journey.  I hope you all will come along with me.