I’m in the throws of a busy season.  Most photographers are this time of year…Christmas cards to be ordered, families coming into town…so this means many happy sweet faces for me to photograph.

 This year I have been incredibly blessed to have had an outpouring of feed back on their sessions.  On what it means to them.  Maybe that is why I’m pausing and thinking about what I do so much today.   Many of you tell me that I’ve captured a moment…a glimpse of their babies.  That I could see a natural smile, or sweet adoring affection a Daddy gives to his baby daughter and give it back to you in something tangible…its the why on what I do.  But  a photograph, a simple word. And as  many are photographers…or you have cameras, cell phones to capture everyday life its a generation of many photographs.    But sometimes I find myself going back through my crazy boxes of random pictures of college days and I remember that feeling I had.  Or a  sun filled overly exposed picture of me sitting on my Mom’s lap.  Do I remember that day?  No…I really don’t.  But that love I can see it…and it makes me happy to reminisce.   I sometimes scroll through my instagram feed and look at all the sweet vacations, hikes, dinners  (yes, I randomly post food posts…I’m one of those people lol) I had with my family.  Or weird moments I decided to photograph…and it tells a story of my life.    I tend to think…I want to stage this…I want to make it a perfect moment.  I want to show how adorable my kiddos are.  Or I want to have my own family pics but I hope they come out okay…will I look okay?  All my insecurities coming to the surface.  And then I remember sometimes a photograph is more than just this year’s Christmas card.  Sometimes its something my kids will look back on and smile.  Or maybe its my parents who live far away and love seeing what I’m up too.  It could be that photograph that is sitting on my wall…for years and years and years…freezing that sweet time so long ago.   Sometimes, its an absolute awful photo of me lol and its absolute perfection of my sweet babies and you can actually feel the love coming right out of an image.

As you can see I’m not skilled in the putting your thoughts to words kind of person.  My point, in this rambling moment in the midst of a busy season…take those photographs.  Put your perfection aside and let those sweet, grubby, imperfectly perfect photographs come out.  Take out your camera and photograph everyday life.  Yes, this is a photographer telling you to go ahead and take those pictures. Be present in your life…photograph the happy, crazy thing we call life.  And watch the sweet smiles and your loved ones look through those images.  Print it…put it on the wall, or in a random album.

And because I love posting a picture with every post I do…I’ll post a few iphone pics.  Yup, high quality family moments.  We are sweaty, grubby, and probably not all the best angles but its us.  And they make me so happy.    I plan on making a change next year and actually having my sister take my family’s pics.   I’m enjoying this season so much.  Thank you for continuing to love on me through out the year.  It means so much to me!