The New Blog!!

Hello!

I am super happy to announce that the Lady of Light Photography blog has a new look! After years of posting on this blog and building it to be what it has become, I have switched over to a self hosted Pro Photo blog. It took a lot of time to make that decision and a lot more time to figure out a new program and customize the new blog to my exact liking, but it is finally done and I couldn’t be more excited. So thank you everyone for following this blog and showing your love and support. I hope that you will subscribe to my new blog and continue to follow my work and writing. Cheers!

 

Photography is Like Singing

Hello friends…I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, aside from the 49er’s losing, it was a fun and eventful one around our house! Our little girl turned 3 and we had a birthday party extravaganza….princess themed of course 🙂 I’m excited for this weeks blog post as it is a metaphor that I think might help others if you are someone who gets your feelings hurt if your work is every criticized by other photographers or if you are wondering why your not booking as many clients as you feel you may deserve to be. I spend a lot of time thinking about my work and how it is viewed by others. What makes one client decide that you are a good fit to photograph their wedding or portraits but another decided that you are not. I think there is a deeper psychology to it then just the obvious. After beating myself up and thinking over and over again how I could appeal to the masses I came to the realization that maybe that is not whats in the cards for me. At least not right now. And then it hit me…photography is just like singing, which is something that I also love to do, just for fun, every photographer has their own unique voice. It may not appeal to everyone. One person may hear your singing and hate it but the person right next to them may hear it and think it is the most beautiful thing that they have ever heard. And it’s okay. Your voice is yours and yours only. No one else can sing like you. If you are passionate about what you do and you are doing it for the right reasons, then there is so much beauty in that and it will always show through in your images and strike someones cord. So my advice to myself and to anyone out there that is learning to find their voice and their vision in this world, is to keep searching, keep dreaming, keep practicing and soaking up the beauty around you, keep learning and keep giving and never let anyone tell you that your voice is not beautiful…

Life and it’s Beautiful Fleeting Moments

This weeks post was meant to meant to be about something photography related but I have to admit work is the farthest thing from my mind this past weekend. What is on my mind…LIFE. Life and its fleeting moments. Life and how we take it for granted, most if the time charging through our day  not leaving anytime to stop and say thank you. Always moving to the next thing on our to do list and not realizing that each moment is so precious. That we are given a gift and our time on this earth is so limited. I was reminded over the weekend of all of this because we had to say good-bye to a very special member of our family, our kitty cat Babs. She was a sweet and wonderful kitty. She never, ever batted or hissed at the kids when they would play rough with her. In the last month or so she had really taken to my daughter and would sleep with her every night. My daughter said that was her kitty cat and she loved her so much. It was all so sudden. Just a couple of weeks ago we noticed she was having some trouble eating, We switched her food to see if it made a difference and it did a little bit but not much. So last Wednesday I took her to the vet and they thought she had an infection on her tongue. They sent us home with antibiotics to give her and hoped for the best. After 3 days of medicine she wasn’t getting any better so on Saturday morning my husband took her back to the vet and they discovered that she had a large tumor under her tongue that was spreading to  her throat, which is why she was having so much trouble eating. The vet told us that we pretty much had to put her down since the only other option was to amputate her tongue, which would have been horrible for her. So we said our good byes and then it was over. It was terrible. How can someone be here one minute and then the next they are just gone? Our family is still devastated. My daughter is still a little too young to understand but she knows that Babs is gone and not coming home. So internet, my advice to you today and everyday. Stop…stop everything that you are doing this instant and hug your loved ones. Tell them you love them. Take a walk on your lunch break and admire the beauty of the trees. Feel the wonderful sunshine or rain or snow on your face and thank the universe that you are here today. This moment is all we have because the past is gone and tomorrow is not promised. Sending all of you love today and thank you for listening….

Ways to manage your business when you are also a stay at home mommy

Hello world 🙂 I hope everyone is enjoying a much-needed 3 day weekend. Lately I’ve been working on strategizing ways to mange my business while also taking care of 2 young kiddos. And when I say young I mean a 3 year old and a 3 month old! I’ll admit since I had my 1st child I’ve been experiencing a feeling that I’m not quite used to…it’s called GUILT! It seems as if I’m constantly feeling guilty…like I’m either not doing enough for my family or I’m not doing enough for my business. It’s a not so fun feeling and I’m trying to find ways to balance and feel like I am giving my children the attention they need and deserve as well as making time to put the efforts into growing my business. So I did something super easy that doesn’t take a lot of effort but it has helped me immensely  and I hope it might help others as well. I went to Target and bought an old school planner,  you know the kind you write in 😉 And every Sunday I sit down and make a plan for the week. On the “Notes” part of the planner I make a list of things I would like to do for my business and I break it down into different sections, like “Blogging” and “Social Media Advertising”, under those lists I put actions or “To Do’s” and in the section that breaks down the days of the week I put different actions in for each day. I try not to over load myself because I’m the kind of person that gets disappointed if I don’t get everything done in one day that is on my list (I know, I’m working on it!) But I’m also the kind of person that can float around doing things that don’t matter, like organizing my Tupperware, if I don’t have a list of To Do’s written down. So this little method has really helped me sit down and focus when I really need to, since my only time to really do work is during nap time or bedtime, it helps to have a list of work that I can get going on when need be. I also put personal errands as well as excercise in the daily boxes to help bring even more balance to my life. I’ve noticed a big difference in how I feel at the end of the day since doing this. I have been able to relax a lot more on the weekends and even enjoyed a few naps of my own…so here’s to more naps, more tea parties (see pic below) and a more organized and balanced life!

How putting yourself out there can help grow your business

 

I’ll admit it internet…I’ve been feeling out of balance lately. My pre holiday excitement and frenzy has turned into a post holiday feeling of blah and “so what now?” feeling. It happens every January. The smell of renewal is fresh in the air and I’m equipped with my freshly written New Year’s resolution and I’m ready to rejuvenate my business and take on the world! And then…I get busy. Keeping up with shoots, making sure clients are happy. Making sure my children are happy and there is food on the table and that I am able to get at least a broken 6 hours of sleep. All of that starts taking up my time and before you know it the holidays are here again and that super important little list you wrote is nowhere to be found. So here is what I did yesterday. Instead of sitting in the house trying to keep up with all of the little things, I bundled the kiddies up and we took to the town. I was determined to get some fresh air and discover a new area of this city we live in. Even though it took us an hour to get out of the house, I have to admit, it felt great. The air was crisp, the kids were happy and while I was sitting in the sandbox watching my little girl play, a very nice woman and her daughter came to the sandbox as well. We started chatting and of course got onto the topic of what we do for a living. I told her I was a photographer and we chatted a bit more about the topic. She then asked for my card and proclaimed that she was just mentioning to her daughter that they needed some family photos done. I happily handed my card over and told her it was great to meet her. We exchanged goodbyes and as she was walking away she turned to me and said, “It’s so important to do what you love and to teach your children to do the same.” It was the simplest statement but it almost blew me away. Sometimes you need to get out there to expose yourself to others and to let people know that you do what you do. And sometimes you need the kind and wise words of a stranger to help remind you that you are on the right path. Happy Monday all and keep forging along on your great path!