Category: Uncategorized

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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!

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.

NaBloPoMo Daily Mitzvah: The Calmer and I have a daily Monday tradition of eating at a favorite local Mexican restaurant. I wasn’t feeling the Mexican food vibe tonight, but decided to go anyway to make my Calmer happy. I know he was looking forward to that meal all day and and I did not want to dissapoint him.

In other news…

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a photography workshop with Northern, VA wedding photographer, Kate Headley. I have been excited for this workshop since the day my mom forwarded me her information from Daily Candy. Targeted toward woman photographers looking to capture fresh, bright, original images i knew her style would mesh with mine.  Her work is inspiring, unique, and creative. I could seriously stare at her images all day!

Kate didn’t disappoint with her teaching either. Her style is intimate, laid back, and interactive. I arrived yesterday at the Athenaeum in Old Town Alexandria to a round table style room of about 15 other woman photographers. The Athenaeum was just lovely! Home of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association it was the perfect venue for this session. Surrounded by inspiration and lots of available light, we were good to go.

We spent the initial part of the workshop in brainstorming ideas and giving introductions.  Then we really got down to business discussing some of the important technical aspects of photography such as ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and composition.  However, the best part of the workshop was the final 30 minutes. Real world application time.  We were broken into groups based on camera model and then given a scenario and props to shoot.  It was a time to think outside the box, mix and mingle with other photographers, and use what we had just learned.

Our scenario went something like this:

“Your cousin is about to celebrate her sweet 16 with a party and would like her dress photographed like a wedding dress.”

The dress we were given to shoot was just gorgeous!

I must say, I love that it matched the Athenaum perfectly!

lovely details.

fun framing.

All in all the session was really beneficial. It was a pleasant afternoon spent with other photographers with the chance to get in some quality practice time.  Kate was open to questions and gracious with her sharing of some really useful tips and tricks for aspiring photographer like me.  I really hope Kate continues to offer workshops and develops some new ones. She was an engaging and knowledgeable teacher and  I’d love to have the chance learn more from her in the future!

Growing up I struggled to find my niche. I dabbled in the arts (music specifically) but could never achieve to the level of my peers. I never did sports. I was a bookworm but that wasn’t very exciting.  I lacked passion and I hungered for it. Somewhere along the way though I think I lost the hunger. I thought aspects of my life were passion when they were really passion disguised.  Now passion has found me and I know.

Photography.

That’s my passion. So strong that the passage of time seems timeless. Photography is my escape, my muse, my inspiration.   Doing whatever it takes to learn.  Achieve the standard needed to thrive.  My mind is swimming with new ideas, dreams for tomorrow, hopes for the future. All the time. 24 hours a day.

I dream photography. I eat photography. I sleep photography.

When I am taking pictures everything else just seems to fade away.  I am in the zone. in the moment.  Every moment is one to cherish.  I am thrilled I able to capture and share moments of my own through this blog.  I am honored and humbled to be asked and entrusted to capture the moments of others.  Thank you to my first clients of late 2009.  I imagine Bella is somewhere smiling because my passion has been realized.

Have you found your passion in life yet?  Tell me about it.

NaBloPoMo Daily Mitzvah: Today’s mitzvah is a secret I wish to remain my own, but it was one that filled me with happiness.

Kristina is roommate at work. We’ve only know each other since August but I really feel like its been much longer. Laid back, friendly, funny, she’s an awesome person to share my office with and talk to everyday.  I also must share what an amazing support and a sounding board  she was when we lost Bella. Kristina had only known me for one week at that time and she was there to simply listen, let me talk, and share whatever I was feeling at the time. It was JUST what I needed and I am not sure she realizes the importance of that so I want to publicly thank her here.

Now onto the fun stuff.

Kristina requested some pictures of her two awesome kiddos Callie and Carter and I was thrilled to come do them! After one cancellation by me and one mutual cancellation because of the weather we were finally able to connect. And I was finally able meet her beautiful baby girl Callie born in late October.  Kristina and I were ready for photo fun, but Callie had other ideas. Being naked, cold, and manipulated was definitely not on her agenda and there were tears! Lots of tears. I felt so bad, but fortunately mom was there to soothe her and wipe the tears away.

After some quality time with Miss Callie, it was time to go pick 2 year old Carter up from daycare. He was thrilled to see his mom, thrilled to be outside, and thrilled to meet me! Carter was not shy around the camera and said “cheese” like a champ.

After the daycare pickup Carter also insisted that I watch him play the piano. Future Mozart?

Thank you Kristina for letting me into your home to interrupt the flow of your day.  Your children are cuties and I was glad to be able to capture some great moments.  I hope you enjoy your session preview, the rest will be ready soon!

NaBloPoMo Daily Mitzvah: Only one Cherry Coke Zero left in the fridge tonight. I let my Calmer drink it. He needed it tonight more than me.