reality.teslaa

UCL Open House & Sale

Tonight we are hosting an Uppercase Living open house at my place. It's a sale!!! Come for big savings, a fun & casual evening out with free food and enter to win a $20 gift certificate from UCL... The party starts at 7:30. Our sale will be extending until this coming Monday. If you have been considering buying something through UCL, you won't find it cheaper anywhere else. Contact me for details. You can browse the catalog here.

Punky Blue Trunk Show

If you are looking for a night out at a great restaurant OR you are looking for unique gift ideas for the Holidays, please join us at the Punky Blue Holiday Trunk Show. Details below. Hope to see you there!

my thoughts on photography & life

Often times, I'm contacted my aspiring photographers who ask me to critique their work or to lend them little bits of advice. As much as I feel honored to be asked, I feel even more humbled by it. I'm just a person who has been blessed to call photography my job. It's been a long road for me and not always an easy one. I started off more than four years ago with a dream that has taken many detours - some unwanted and some much needed.

When I started, I had no one in the photography industry that mentored me. I had a close friend, Barb Pachulski, who believed in me and gave me the gift of her encouragement. I started at the beginning of the 'soccer mom photographer' era and many of us were in the boat - fumbling through learning by trial and error. Many times I got very frustrated that it didn't come easily for me or that I didn't have someone to hold my hand (However, Barb did a lot of handholding from a business woman standpoint!).

Now looking back, I know that I had to get through those times to get where I am. I'm also thankful that I didn't have someone telling me the reality of the business because I may have ditched it long before I should have because the reality of photography isn't all fun and games. I also didn't have someone who gave me constructive criticism which, I believe, would have broken me into many pieces and may have crushed my spirit. This is why I hold back on giving out constructive criticism.

I believe that photography is first and foremost an art. People see beauty and design differently. We are wired differently. My art gets affected by so many factors which makes every portrait session completely different. Even if I take pictures at the same location, on the same day, at the same time of day, my pictures will look completely different based on my subjects and the way I'm interacting with them. One of my mentors, Kalen Henderson, once said that photography is a dance. That is so true. I cannot dance alone. I need subjects to dance with me. My portraits are the tangible evidence of our dance. It's art. It's a dance. It's a personal experience for everyone.

I recently read the book, "The Friday Night Knitting Club." Mixed through the book are quotes that relate knitting to life and I thought they were very profound. Many of the knitting quotes, I felt related to photography. I'm going to type some of them out for your reference. These are my pieces of advice that I give to anyone reading for life or photography hobby/business:

• The only way to get going is to just grasp that yarn (camera) between your fingers and twist. Just start. It's the same with life. Of course, every beginning won't be the same: There are dozens of ways to cast on (take a photo) and they vary based on skill or design or even just relying on the tried and true. My point? Sometimes what works for one piece isn't the right way next time (Amen to that one!). You have to experiment to see what works. But there's a similarity no matter the method: you either try or you don't. So form a slipknot; make a series of twisted loops on one needle and then use its partner to reach through and make a stitch. Casting on is as much a leap of faith as technique.
• Just as you have to take baby steps before you walk, you can't get going with your garment until you make a practice piece. Take a measure of yourself against the expectation. Otherwise what you make just won't fit! And you make adjustments. You might have to adjust again or make another gauge before you are done. The mystery is that two people using needles of the same size and type can make stitches of varying sizes and tension. The magic is that, even though they have differences, they can both create something equally wondrous.
• It becomes exciting as you begin to see the pattern take shape. It's the reward for perseverance. Don't let it go to your head or stick to the same moves; learn new stitches and see how far you can go.
• At times, it's just so hard to wear something that seems less than perfect or didn't turn out the way you wanted it to. But just put it on anyway; celebrate your hard work and your talent. And your love. Every knitter stitches with love, even when they're just starting, all red-faced and frustrated. Why else would we create? Especially in a world that doesn't need homemade anything. That's when we need homemade everything. It never matters if things don't end up just the way you planned. Every moment is a work in progress; every stitch is one stitch closer. There may be worse, but there is always better. When you wear something you've made with your own hands, you surround yourself with love, and all the love that came before you. The real achievement, you see, is being proud of what you've made. I know that I am.

I hope that's not too much to read. Profound quotes! I can still get so much out of those.

I have many people who think that I lead a charmed life. I can understand from the outside that it looks like I have it all together. And that's only by the grace of God that I can even appear to have it all together! The reality is far from the truth. I know that I'm very blessed and I thank God every day for the blessings of family, friends and life. However, the reality of life is that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Some days I'm content in my own backyard but other days I think my neighbor's grass is looking pretty green. I wanted you all to know that. I do love my job. I love my photography. But some days are still hard even after four years. The one quote from the "Friday Night Knitting Club" that put my feelings into words so perfectly was when the main character was speaking to a friend and she said, "I'll let you in on a little secret. We don't all love our jobs every day. And doing something you have a passion for doesn't make the work part of it any easier." I'll leave you with that thought.

seniors

I've had such a wonderful year of senior pictures. I cannot tell you how many fun teenagers I have met. Teenagers with personality, with joy, with heart, with their whole futures ahead of them. I'm only going to show a few of my favorite images. There are many more where this came from. I'll be showing more and more. Thanks to all of my seniors this year. You guys rock!

Sadness

I think it's the sign of getting older when you are aware of all the sadness around you. I have heard so many things in the recent past that break my heart... a husband and father of four loses his job, a young boy struggling with depression and anxiety, adoption falling through, mom diagnosed with breast cancer, a family with a 4 year old battling leukema, a 20 year old with inoperable brain tumor who was finally recovering and now discovered a recurrence on the base of her spine, a friend's dad who has a kidney full of cancer. There's so much pain in this world.

My heart is heaviest for a family in our area who is experiencing the roughest of things... their well-rounded child who tried to take his own life last week. I have a close friend who is a close friend of the father. I could almost be sick thinking about the pain and the questions that this family is living through right now. I go to my God in prayer constantly for a miracle in this situation. I want his to unleash his power and amaze us. We started our football game on Friday night with a stadium packed (over 5,000 people) in silence as the announcer prayed for this family. That was powerful and comforting. Please pray for this family. I cannot shake the need to pray. Thanks so much.

Rain & Shrooms

It was a crazy weekend full of rain. Thankfully we got through the football game on Friday night dry and with a wonderful WIN! It was a great game!

Saturday was full of photography cancellations. My IN A SNAP scheduled for downtown that day is being moved to two separate dates. If you are interested in those dates, let me know.

On Sunday, my kids were bouncing off the walls so we let them put on some old clothes (i.e. daddy's paint shirts) and play in the rain. Today they had a riot cleaning up the mushrooms that have found a lovely home in our lawn. Who would have thought that mushrooms would be SO much fun!?!

Final Offering... for right now

Two housekeeping things...

1. I still have appts open for my Saturday IN A SNAP sessions in downtown Grand Rapids. Only $100 for a session. Please contact me ASAP if you would like to schedule.
2. I have another EveryDay Display Framing event on SEPTEMBER 22. You can view my post from the last framing party HERE Basically... if you purchase a frame, you will receive a free 12x12 image from Miracles Photography for your frame. If you already own a frame and would like to update it, you can purchase a 12x12 print at a discounted price of $40 per 12x12 image. If you are interested in my Sept 22nd date, I need to know by tomorrow. If you are interested in the November 11th date, please let me know too. It's an adorable way to display your blessings in life. They are great for calendars and child artwork too!

Odd Moment

Ever have one of those odd moments? Mark and I just had that on Saturday morning. We went on a date night on Friday (that's odd enough!?!). We decided to try a new, hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant that has gotten rave reviews from friends. The meals was awesome and our date was much needed. We woke up on Saturday morning to the news that the very restaurant we ate at on Friday night burned down about two hours after we ate there. It was called Little Mexico and was a little dive Mexican restaurant in Grand Rapids. You can read the headlines here. Odd moment and so very sad for all those effected by it. When they rebuild, I highly recommend dining there. Great Margaritas and food!

Ellie did it! She donated 8 inches to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program.

Quick snap before the cut.

 

Urban Snap Sept 13

I have added another date to my IN A SNAP program. We will be doing an urban/downtown setting on Saturday, September 13th. I only have THREE sessions open. If you are interested, please let me know. Here are some of my favorites from a downtown session this morning.