There's A Story in Every Photograph.

I realize the blog posting is a little late this week, now before I go on I must say this posting has a good reason why it was late. Passion and paying it forward. It's no secret that I've been in love with design and photography since I could practically snap a camera and learn the color wheel. I carried it throughout high school going to an academy school where I not only learned what the district required me to learn but to learn the basics and the fundamentals of this craft. I gained college credit which allowed me to skip a couple classes and ultimately finish in less time. I, of course went to the local college sadly, because of money troubles. My dream was to go to the University of South Carolina. Go Gamecocks! This is the part where my husband disagrees because he's team Clemson, good thing this wasn't a must when he picked his wife. ;) Just kidding but, over the course of the 2 years I went to this college I learned what I was made of and the side of design that I absolutely will never touch. I won't argue being out of school for two-years and not keeping up with this craft I'm very rusty. I grew less and less enthused to go out and take photos of anything other than myself and loved ones, including my furry ones. The reason why I was getting less than enthused was only because I had a bad experience with internship and one of the design teachers that expected four-year work out of two-year students. I also suffered from major anxiety and didn't believe in my work. When you don't believe in your work, it doesn't do well. This was a hard lesson I had to learn early on unfortunately.

Moving out here, honestly was the hardest thing I've had to do because I'm way out of my comfort zone. All my friends, family, (other) animals, and especially connections are all in South Carolina. Don't get me wrong, starting over kind of sounded good, but when you're not yet sure of your next move for your career or when you're gonna get your own vehicle, and start making more friendships it's scary. I remember leaving with tears streaming down my face so scared, then the guy I sat next to on my first plane ride was talking to me about what to kind of expect. I'll be honest I was still scared, but at this point I felt better. (Honestly, I should've told him thank you looking back, so thanks!) I told him how crazy it was that I have never even visited Vegas and here I was going to move in this new place full of gambling and population of over 2 million. Could you even imagine? My marriage and my love for my husband was important to me though. I have been through so many emotions and crazy things this year that I could go on forever, but I won't, moral of the story is never stop loving what you do and always do what you love. I have found when I stopped taking photos, when I stopped all together doing design, or even stopped reading I found myself getting ten times as anxious than I was before. It's an on going battle of everyday. I also kind of lost sight of who I was and resorted in being a lesser version of myself. I'm not proud of who I was and some of the choices I made or didn't make. I am very aware that I was in charge of myself and didn't have a grip on myself, but now I very much do.

I'll give you the cheat sheet version. I have decided to go back to school to become an elementary school teacher. Honestly, I love kids, I'm not ready to make that big commitment yet, although I'm constantly getting baby fever I know it will happen when it's ready to happen. It's nice to dream till then. I am very good at helping people and I have always had those few teachers that made a huge impact on me. Naturally, I'm better in english classes. I think Elementary is also the right grades for me, even though I probably could get yelled at, at some point or another for looking so young they could mistake me as a student. (I'm preparing myself for this, ten bucks says it'll happen on my first week) All joking aside, just because I've chosen a different path for my career doesn't mean I want to stop doing all the creative things that I do. Which is why once we met our friends, Rachel & Joe, we got asked to do couples photos for them. As Rachel and I were sitting on my living room floor she proceeds to tell me that got none of a proposal and none of their wedding. I honestly, fought for my photographer for my wedding (I was proudly her first wedding) and she worked me in last minute for our engagement photos. Kristy Roderick (link to her website is in her name) made us feel very comfortable and her style is favorite. The reason why I chose her, aside from her down-to-earth personality she is one of those people who just know the crucial moments to get. In some sort of way she inspired me to get off my butt and do these photos.

With that being said, I know this was important, and I talked with Rachel about what sort of styles she wanted. So far I've given her 2 teasers. So I'm posting here for a couple more about what they look like, I'm sure she's going to die (of cuteness) when she sees them because I honestly think they are the best work I have done yet. I edited with Adobe Photoshop of course, but I didn't have to do much. They were both so easily photogenic, even though the sun wasn't so much. I decided to do the photography session for free. I also decided since they are really amazing friends that I would print out all the great ones and put them in an album as well as putting them on a disc and giving them the rights to print out even more. I know it's not the most professional way to not give "notes" on how to pose and it is true that I will have to because some people really don't know what looks good and what doesn't, but I've seen some really adorable natural posing when you just let a couple be their own loving selves. I wouldn't do that with everyone, but I had hoped that they felt comfortable with me (and my husband helped) to be able to be themselves. It worked and I am more than happy with how they came out. The reason why I did it free was mainly to pay it forward, normally I would keep quiet because I'm not one to brag about charity but I feel like this would've been a good thing to reach out to those who are afraid to pay it forward. Even just doing a favor shows kindness. There is no such thing as too small of an act of kindness. :)

Hope y'all enjoyed this weeks posting! I want to constantly be inspiring on here to inspire other people. This is how people get creative, and now that you have the idea, get to it. ;)