Small steps and hard work...

A good friend of mine told me about a place that was opening in Hughson. A place with local live bands, poetry, music lessons and local artists and photographers showcasing their work. She let me know about it and I contacted the owners, showed them my work and they want to display what I have! It's a small location and won't get a lot of traffic but I feel like this is a step in the direction that I want to go. I am SO blessed to have so many people in my corner...rooting for me and helping me with resources. The people in my life have helped to make me who I am!!!! It's exciting to think that people may look up at my photos and think, "That would look great in my home." There is no better feeling for a photographer than that!!!!

When you have a dream in life...you can't just sit back and wait for your dream to turn into reality. The REALITY is that you have to put hard work into it...make sacrifices...put some things in life on the back burner in order to make that dream come true. I have spent so much of my time lately trying to make that dream of mine come true...and I am starting to see results and the hard work is paying off!!!

On another note...I am so excited that my new camera is coming tomorrow. I can't wait to test it out...and of course think of a name for it :) LOL.

So...I hope everyone that has a dream, puts the hard work into it to make it come true...God wants us to be our best selves....wants us to enjoy life and live to the fullest...enjoy every person and every moment! I certainly am enjoying my moments!!!! :)

Being creative...

I went to visit my best friend Melissa in October. She lives in Florida now and we had a super fun week. We spent a lot of time hanging out at the beach and picking up shells...the sand there is so fine and WHITE!!!
When I came home, she came up with a very creative idea to remember the trip. She sent me to Lowes to pick up the glass block...she mailed me some sand...I put the shells in and a picture of the two of us at the beach and WHAAA LAAA. Here is the end result! Since I have beach like pictures in my bathroom I decided to put it as a decoration in there! I love it...thanks for the idea Liss and the great memories from that trip!!!!

A photographers worst nightmare!!!!

OK...so I know it sounds dramatic...BUT a photographer's worst nightmare is something happening to their camera. Marcia and I have had conversations about "what if" situations. Again...excuse the dramatics involved here BUT...we joke that if we are on a cliff taking pictures and one of us starts to fall...we will throw the camera at the "survivor" standing on the cliff and yell "SAVE THE CAMERA". I warned you that this is dramatic....

SOOOO...When I was photographing the event on New Years, I noticed my flash acting weird. Then I played with it the next day and it was doing the same thing....slowly it is not working at all. Considering that I think I have taken about 200,000- 300,000 pictures with that camera...I guess it's time for the flash to go out. LOL :) So, I called the company who estimated that the cost would be $200-$300....Can you say WOWZERS????? I can!!!! and I DID!!! SOOOOOO...my heart has been set on the Olympus E-5 camera for $1700....oh do I dream about it. I dream of the photo trips I would take with my E-5...Then I woke up from that dream and Pooooff...back to reality. Soooooooo I started looking online and found a 620 for $360 (they are usually $600-$900) SOLD. I figured that for $60 more I might as well get a new camera body, and all my lenses will still work with this camera body :).

I still plan on using Shooter (yes I name my cameras) on landscape photo trips since I won't need the flash and the 620 (NO, I have not named the new one yet, but soon I will) will be used for portrait photography and my busniess side of photography. Excited to get the new camera...but not so excited for the learning curve of knowing where everything is and the settings on this one. So...RIP Shooter...you were loved for many years!!!!!! :)

New Year...

Well...my New Years resolution is to blog more. I want to try to find time to blog at least once a week...SOOOOOO here we go!
I worked a birthday party for a family on New Years Eve this year. They were all amazing...so inviting and made me feel like part of the family. This is one of the things I love about being a photographer. Meeting new people...hearing their life stories...learning from others! I love to watch moments with people...a husband catching a glimpse of his wife and smiling....a 2 year old running up and hugging his Daddy's legs when he sees him...a mother hugging her son and sharing a laugh about an inside joke!!! All of this I get to not only experience with people but I get to capture those moments! What an honor!
At this party a man walked up to me and said that he was watching me work all night (I know this sounds creepy...but you had to be there cause it soooo was not :)) and said I was a natural at what I do. WOWZERS I thought....how quickly he can give me such a compliment...after asking what he meant and why he thought that, he also said, "You are doing what you are meant to do in life." DOUBLE TRIPLE WOWZERS!!! What a compliment...it made me feel great :)
Maybe more of us should take notice of what people are doing and give them those acknowledgments. What a great feeling it gave me...I can only imagine how others would feel if we all made sure to lift people up that way! So....maybe I have 2 New Years resolutions....1. to blog more and 2. to make sure I notice and tell people when they are doing a good job at something...compliment people more often! Let the new year BEGIN!!!!!!!