Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Refocusing!

                                                                                        Lets refocus!

I have just recently taken a FREE online mini class from Beryl Ayn Young called One Ingredient Fix that completely changed my perspective about photography and motherhood!

My passion has always been, and will always be, photography. I just love how photography allows me to extract beauty from everyday life. However, above all else I am a mom to the most beautiful little girl in the whole world! She is truly a blessing to me! She makes everyday an adventure to say the least. Over the past few years I decided to "attempt" turning my passion for photography into a business. I am still at the beginning stages of this very long and slow process! I got my entry level DSLR camera in June 2010, and I just went crazy taking pictures of everything! I slowly started to learn the functions of my camera one Youtube video and free tutorial at a time. Once I was brave enough to take my camera out of auto mode I decided it was time to show off my "skills"! I started asking anyone and everyone to let me do a photo shoot with them. One friend and family member at a time, I slowly built my business and my skill level up to charging people $35.00 a session!! I was so excited!
As the next 2 years went on I watched my daughter grow and change so much in what seemed like such a short amount of time. She is a very colorful little girl with so much personality she can barely contain it all in her tiny frame. In my attempt to preserve this era of her life I would dress her up in a cute outfit, and head outside for a photo shoot. After all, I am a photographer I should be more than capable of taking an outstanding photo of my daughter! This proved to be quite a bit harder than I thought! After several hours of "Stand there!", "Look this way!", "I said look THIS way!", "Smile!", "Smile the right way!", "Don't mess up your hair!", "Why are you crying?", "If you smile I will buy you ice cream!" I would walk away completely exhausted and with maybe 1 useable photo! Every photo shoot with my daughter seemed to turn out the same! Completely frustrated, I decided that photo shoots with her (aside from the occasional phone snapshots) would be few and far between.
Taking Beryl's mini class helped me realize just where I had gone wrong these last few years! Somewhere along my photography journey my focused had shifted! I was focusing everything on trying to obtain "perfect" photos and expand my business instead of focusing on my daughter! I realized that I had lost sight of the most important part of my life! Making lasting memories with my daughter! And if I was lucky enough to come out with a few blurry, not-so-perfect photos in the process then that would just be icing on the cake. Beryl's mini class is about taking the "cheese" out of your photography and replacing it with play. As a result of swapping out the "Say cheese!" for quality time with your kiddos the results are some really amazing natural photos! 
Thank you, Beryl, for helping me to refocus!

It isn't too late to take Beryl's FREE mini class! Sign up right HERE! It will be available through the month of April! 


These pictures were taken at bedtime as we were reading bedtime stories and just simply talking about her day. They are not perfect, but they are a true depiction of how sweet and innocent she is. She is just as happy as she could be just spending some time with me on my big comfy bed.

1 comment:

  1. Ah, I love this! Capturing true moments of joy with your kids. I bet your can still hear the giggle and remember the story that she was reading, too. It's amazing memories for both of you. :D

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