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If you are a momtographer, I’ve got two giveaways today that are going to rock your world!

In this digital age, the art of photography and capturing memories has never been easier. Point, shoot, transfer, upload and your job is done. But with this ease, comes a new set of challenges.  Too often I hear stories of momtographers who have lost their these precious memories just as quickly as they were taken.  At my last Momtography class one of the participants  told the heartbreaking story of how she lost hundreds of photos of her wedding, the birth of her first child, and their first years as a family all because of a broken computer and a crashed hard drive.

Can you relate?

SmugMug has absolutely changed my life for this very reason and has revolutionized the way I archive my photos for both my clients AND my family. With unlimited storage, full resolution image backups, beautiful image slideshows and access to pro labs for prints and other products they are an industry leader for moms and pro alike.  I am a faithful member of the SmugMug family, and now SmugMug wants you to be a part of their family too!

SmugMug has generously offered to give away a 1-year PRO level account membership ($150 value) and a $50 print credit to one lucky Be Young Photography blog reader!

To be entered in this giveaway you just need to follow 2 easy steps:

1) Leave a comment on this blog. Tell me “Have you ever lost your family photo memories? How will SmugMug change your life?”

2) Go “Like” SmugMug on Facebook by clicking HERE. Tell them Be Young Photography sent you. Just copy and paste the following to their Wall and you’ll be all set: I am a Be Young Photography Momtographer and I need SmugMug to change my life!

A winner will be chosen at random on Friday. You must have both a blog comment and a SmugMug wall post to be chosen as the winner . (You do not have to been a current or former attendee of Momtography 101 to enter this giveaway. anyone is welcome and encouraged to enter!)

AND now for giveaway #2…

Do you live in the Washington Metropolitan Area? Do you want to be entered to win a FREE seat to the June 26th Momtography 101 class ($125 value)? Well you’re in luck! because the Dulles Moms is giving one seat away this week! Head on over to their website be entered. Click HERE for the details on how you can win the free spot which will be given away on Friday.

Good luck, winners will be announced for both contests on Friday!

Today it’s time to meet another one of the Be Young Photography momtographers! I am so proud of these ladies and so excited to share their stories with you. Are you interested in being a part of the next Momtography 101 group? Check out this week’s giveaways. You could win a free seat in the next class OR free photo storage and printing from our awesome partner SmugMug.  Click HERE for all of the details on how to enter. Good luck, and enjoy this week’s interview!

Name: Keisha

Camera: Nikon D7000

How many kiddos: 2

Age(s): 2 years 8 months, 13 months

Tell us a little about what makes your kids tick. What are their interests, hobbies, favorites. What makes them unique? My son loves Tonka trucks, Thomas the Train, Buzz Light Year (from Toy Story), and he loves to run when we go on our afternoon walks. He is a very particular and cautious little boy that is also curious and has a ton of empathy for those around him, especially when they get a boo boo. My daughter on the other hand is our firecracker. Katy Perry’s song Fireworks is pretty much her theme song. She’s full of energy and sunshine. She also loves chasing after her brother and then running away from him when being tormented.

Tell us what you love most about being a mom? I love watching them sleep, play and learn new things. Having two little ones so close together has been tiresome at times, but the enjoyment I get from each one of them, in their own way, is well worth it.

Biggest frustration(s) with your photos pre-Momtography? My biggest frustration pre-Momotography was trying to figure out how to take photos without using a flash. I relied heavily on my SB600 speedlight, because I didn’t know how to manually adjust my camera settings to get the photos to look the way I would see them in my mind. Two of the example photos I have are from a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s house. I was trying to capture my husband and son in front of a Christmas tree. There was a enough lighting in the room, but I could not figure out how to take the photo without using the flash.

What was the best tip or trick you learned from attending Momtography that you were able to use right away? The best tip I’ve learned from attending the Momtography class is how ISO, shutter speed and aperature all interact with each other. I am proud to say that I have not used my flash or speedlight since the class. I’m loving taking photos in manual modes. Instead of letting the camera think for me, I’m now telling the camera what to do and the results have been great.

What is the BEST moment you’ve captured of your kids or family ever on camera. Anything special come to mind? Last weekend, there was a Kid’s Trout Fishing Day in Reston. They stocked a tributary to Lake Audubon with over 200 rainbow trout. That day, my son caught his first fish, and he was estatic. In addition, the Northern Virginia Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be using one of these photos in their next newsletter.

Why should other local moms consider attending Momtography 101 on June 26th? Most people buy nice digital cameras because they want to take professional looking photos. But how much fun is a great digital camera if you’re only using it in auto mode, like a point and shoot camera. Besides the investment we made in our camera, taking this class was our next great investment. I feel more confident taking photos and do not feel as overwhelmed or frustrated in determining the right settings to use in different situations or settings.

When I was first referred to Cranial Technologies by our pediatrician because our poor baby has a “flat head” the immediate dread hit the pit of my stomach. “A helmet???” Then there were the thoughts of taking her out in public. The stares. The laughs. The wonders. Friends told me they didn’t notice her flat spot at all. But I did. All the time. And even though without treatment that flat spot would most likely disguise itself under a head of thick beautiful hair, in the end I couldn’t have regrets. I didn’t want Brie to yell at me 16 years down the road because I didn’t “fix” her. This too shall pass and we are going to make the most of the 3 months of our Brielle Rose wearing a “crown”, or as her daddy kindly puts it, her 3 months as “an astronaut”.

We were so lucky to discover the non-profit called Wrap Buddies, dedicated to making these medical orthotics look beautiful.  They are a network of auto wrap shops, dedicating their time and resources to wrapping these bands for free!! Our band was wrapped by affiliate Wrap Buddies shop, Beyond Graphix, in Hyattsville, MD.

We are almost 2 weeks in to Brie wearing her band and we all couldn’t be happier!

Mother’s Day is a day of appreciation and respect. I can think of no mothers who deserve it more than those who had to give a child back.

~ Erma Bombeck ~

It’s was Mother’s Day 2009 that I found out I was going to be a mom for the first time.  20 weeks later we lost our first daughter, Bella, to a combination of medical abnormalities and our lives were forever changed.  Mother’s Day holds a special place for me because it feels like I’ve truly been a mom for the past 2 years.  But this past weekend, my first “real” Mother’s Day, the story of why and how I got into this business has been on my mind a lot. Becoming a mom to our beautiful Baby Brie has stirred up a lot of thought and introspection as to how our family got here and what an emotional roller coaster the past 2 years have been.

I think about Bella, the first daughter we never met. I think about Brielle, and how she would not be here if Bella still was. I think about how lucky we are to have Brielle, such an amazing baby with such an easy going and happy nature. And then I wonder if Bella’s personality would’ve been like Brie’s or completely different.  I think about what Bella would look like now. Would she and Brie have looked the same? Would Bella have had the same beautiful strawberry blonde hair and striking blue eyes like her sister? Or would they have been their own unique selves and not even have looked or acted like siblings.

I think about the loneliness and sadness that clouded our 2009.

I think about the uncertainty, hope, and growth that was our 2010.

I think about the overwhelming joy we’ve experienced in 2011.

And I think a lot about photography.

How it has encouraged me. How it has helped me. How it has healed me.

My mind has meandered around all of these thoughts lately, much like I’ve been wandering the path towards becoming a photographer. During the past past 18 months the road has been winding, sometimes I’ve felt lost, I’ve climbed up hills, and I’ve re-discovered the beauty life has to offer.  The universe surely works in strange ways, but looking back down the path I can see that there must have been a reason for it all. I took a look back at my very first blog post the other day to remind myself where this journey began. October 6th, 2009. I stated my purpose for blogging. Reason #1:

INSPIRE

That was my big dream 2 years ago. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there, or what I would do to make that happen, but I wanted to be an inspiration to others. At the time I was looking for an outlet to share my photography journey, experiment with and express my creativity, and attract an audience willing to listen to my story of loss and new life. I wanted the world to know that grieving the loss of an unborn child is lonely, it is never-ending, and the best healer in the world is time and a creative outlet.

But even after expressing my feelings, expanding my technical photography skills, building my portrait portfolio, booking some amazing clients, and teaching moms the confidence to get their dslr cameras out of “auto” mode, something has still felt missing on this journey.

Until now.

Somewhere along the way of building this business I lost the core reason it was started, Bella. She is the missing piece I’ve been searching for and in the coming month the Be Young Photography School is going be adding a new class to its offerings in order to re-focus on what has mattered most from the beginning.

Introducing…

 

A 4-week online course designed especially for moms dealing with the loneliness, grief, and sadness of losing a child in pregnancy or infancy no matter how long ago that loss occurred. It’s for moms who are looking for a creative outlet to express their emotion and begin the healing process. It’s a way for these special women to be heard and connect with others dealing with the exact same experience. It’s a way for baby-loss moms to slowly step back into the world and learn to live again.

Bella has inspired the creation of every aspect of Be Young Photography from the first blog post, to each photograph snapped, to teaching moms camera confidence. Now, this class unites all of those values into one common purpose.

To get on the mailing list to learn more about Illuminate and all of the details of how you can be involved in this class experience

click HERE

I can’t wait to start the healing process with some amazing, strong, beautiful women.

People are like stained glass windows — the true beauty can be seen only when there is light from within. The darker the night, the brighter the windows.
–Elizabeth Kubler-Ross~

One of the best things we can do for ourselves when the world seems to be crashing down around us is to, pause. Take a deep breath. And find the thing that nurtures our mind, body, and spirit.

I’ll be taking a moment to pause this weekend.

And for my baby-loss moms who need help rediscovering nurturing, inspiration, and light, the Illuminate class may be just the pause you are looking for. Click HERE if you want to learn more about when the first Illuminate experience will begin and how you can be a part of it.

I absolutely adore little girls, especially my own! (I am a little biased I know). The best part about little girls? The clothes. The shoes. And….the accessories!! When Brie was born one of the first places we frequented for her accessories was UnBOWlievable.  The fact that I could find a hair piece customized to match any of her outfits was amazing. We started with headbands, and as she has grown and begun to spout beautiful thick hair we’ve been able to upgrade to velvet clips. When she gets a bit older she’ll be able to retire the velvet and move on to a new kind of clip.  But, this presents us with a different problem. What do we do with all of the beautiful newborn headbands she is no longer wearing and probably won’t wear again?

Well…UnBOWlievable is gearing up to launch a new product this fall that aims to fix this problem. A product that allow hair pieces to grow with a child and be used for years and years and years. I’m not allowed to say to much, but I can show you a little sneak peek of a shoot we did this past week modeling their new product. Same bow. Eight Ways. Soft bands. Hard Bands. Velvet Clips. No Velvet Clips. Hair Up. Hair Down. The possibilities are endless. And they will be coming to UnBOWlievable soon.

Oh and I couldn’t resist this one…I little slice of spring to start your Monday off right. 🙂

People are hungry for stories. It’s part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another.

~Studs Turkel~

This year I hit a milestone in the aging process. 30. During the same time frame I was blessed with a baby. And my mind all of a sudden was gone. Double whammy. I seriously can’t seem to remember anything anymore. The day of the week, what I ate for breakfast, where I put my keys the night before. What we did last week, last month, last year. I constantly feel like I am in a race with time right now, and time is always winning. All I have to do is blink and and our baby Brie is another month older, is reaching a new milestone, and is becoming a toddler before our very eyes. I don’t ever want to forget any of these precious moments that seem to be slipping away too quickly.

In the same vein, last year, I took a devastating blow after losing Bella. I was in a constant fog. Time and I were in a different kind of race. The days were passing but each one was more grey than the last. Joy was missing and I really didn’t care what day of the week it was, what I ate for breakfast, or where I put my keys the night before. I wanted to forget last week, last month and last year. But at the same time I did want to be heard. I wanted to mourn out loud when everyone else had moved on. I wanted to curse the curve-ball we were thrown and demand my old life back. I wanted to scream out to the world that I was hurting.

No matter the time or place, we each have a story. We yearn for understanding, connection, and a way to remember.

big. little. exciting. mundane. peaceful. bold. brave. fearful. lonely. healing. happy. desperate. loving. thankful. freeing. spirited. curious. frustrating. uncertain. passionate. sad. warm. optimistic. confident. tense. pained. miserable. hopeful. determined. eager. liberating. satisfying. cheerful. wonderful. courageous. calming. tragic. terrifying. fascinating. amazing. inspired.

The stories of our life are what bind us together.

Today I invite you to share your story. Any story. What do you want remembered? Big or little. Exciting or mundane. Tell it. Link it. Share it here.

When your name is Brielle, and you are baby, this is what Happy Hour looks like. Cheers!

(a big thank you to guest photographer MeMa for capturing this moment)

 

 

 

I am a glass half full kinda gal. I love people. Hate conflict. And I strive to nurture and preserve positive relationships and positive attitudes in all aspects of my life.

Blogger Susannah Conway had an incredible blog post this week that had me digging deep into my soul, contemplating my positive nature, my PERSPECTIVE in the blog world, and the effects this has on me as a photographer and teacher. (and can I just add that I am now even more super stoked to be exploring these concepts further in her Unraveling e-course next month)

She states :

“It’s very tempting to turn our blogs into an on-going affirmation of what we want our lives to be like, hoping that if we share only the good stuff we can make it real.”

She goes on to share that she like bloggers to BE REAL, put a little more honesty and grit in their writing, and tone down the attitude of being so positive and grateful for what they have. She encourages the expression of raw feeling and true emotions instead of sharing only when we feel all is right in our world.

But what if we truly feel our overall PERSPECTIVE is “Smile when it hurts most.”? Now I know this is a pretty extreme statement. I am not so optimistic as to not realize that everyone is entitled to a bad day, we each have our own baggage we carry with us, and we can’t put a smile on our face 24 hours a day 365 days a year.  (When I slipped and fell in the middle of a Target store while shopping on Mother’s Day ended up in the ER instead of enjoying family brunch I was certainly not talking up how grateful I was to have a freshly bruised black and blue sprained ankle to contend with for the next 6 weeks).

So this begs the question, can we both SMILE through pain and BE REAL about our emotions?

I think the answer is YES. Losing Bella for me meant the crumbling of big plans, hopes, and dreams for the life I thought I was to live. When I was BEING REAL this single event made me stumble, stutter, and question everything I ever felt was positive and right with my world. It took losing her to strip me of my rose colored glasses and realize that life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. In the weeks and months following the loss there were tears. Many many tears. There was anger. Hopelessness. Loneliness. Guilt. An endless stream of negative emotion.

But instead of allowing myself to hide from the world, I decided to hide behind my camera.  That little black box helped me SMILE through the pain. I posted all the REAL stuff here. The open wounds. The raw emotion. The images I created.  I took the experience as an opportunity grow as an individual, expose myself, and and use a terrible experience as an OPPORTUNITY to build a new life and a new plan.  Affirming these wishes for a new life of happiness has allowed the opening of many new doors, the nurturing of new relationships, and has allowed for a ton of gratitude to seep in to this new life. There are days where I still struggle with the loss. The life we left behind. The person I’ve become. I am working 70 hour weeks or more to achieve these new dreams. Sometimes I still want to cry. I want to throw in the towl. Release these new dreams and let them go. I want to SMILE less and be more REAL.

Even so, I still press on.  I fully believe that the sun can shine on us daily even when there is rain. I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe in the power of positive affirmations and hoping for a better tomorrow. And I believe that even when we are REAL we can still find something that makes us SMILE and discover the path to our own personal happiness. That PERSPECTIVE is what I have always intended to share here. My stories of survival, growth, inspiration, and gratitude.

Is your glass half full? Or half empty? Can positive affirmations turn into positive outcomes? Share your PERSPECTIVES here today, I want to hear them.

If you’re a mom suffering from pregnancy or infant loss who is looking to get REAL but also looking to SMILE again I encourage you to get on the Illuminate VIP list HERE. The details on how to be a part of our first Illuminate Experience is only a week away. It’s going to change your PERSPECTIVE and get you living again.

I am NOT a videographer. At all. I repeat. I am NOT a videographer. So please excuse the poor video quality. I am sure you’ll forget all about that though once you hear her infectious laugh.