Let's get personal...Where is YOUR heart? Here is Mine...

Hello, hello! Long time no updates? Uhmmm... yeah... sorry about that. It didn't really happen on purpose but the fact that it did? Well, I must admit that I'm glad it did happen like that.

This year has truly been a year of me sorting through my life, looking at it all through Christ-focused lenses, and then paring it all down to only the things that point to Him. This has meant that I have had to make some very tough choices and employ some serious willpower to resist the urge to engage and invest myself (and my time) the way I always have. The truth is this: If you do what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. Another truth? It's this: Only a crazy person would keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

I've been ready and needing major changes in my life for quite sometime now but I haven't been exactly open to it all. Wouldn't you know it? I have been standing in my own way but more honestly God's way! *sigh* Good thing my faith in Him is (surprisingly very much) intact and I am not so stubborn that I can't admit when and how I am wrong in order to make way for Him to change both my heart AND my ways! Growing pains are always painful to experience but I'm delighted to report that the Lord is giving me some very obvious signposts that tell me without a shadow of a doubt that I'm going about things in exactly the way He wants me to. The investments that I am making in Him (before EVERYTHING else!) are returning dividends in spades! Every day I am amazed at the way He is providing for me and covering me with His unconditional grace, mercy, and PEACE. Truly I am blessed and I know it's because of my convictions and determination to repent for the wayward paths I've taken that have just about strayed me from Him. But enough of the veiled narration of my life. How about something obvious that He has done for me that I rarely share here.

One of the greatest challenges for me as a visual artist and photographer is balancing work and life. On one hand I love being at the easel or behind the camera because I am all about the endless opportunities that the Lord provides me with to share the view of His gorgeous intelligent design that is within the world. I am all about creating for Him and sharing the things He inspires me to create with others. Trouble with all of this is that it makes me a bit of a workaholic. Of this, I am very aware of how it all robs my family of some of the best of me and distracts me from answering what I believe is an incredible calling to be a better wife and mother to my husband and family.

I was a photographer and visual artist long before I became a wife and mother but I know that when I ventured to answer God's calling to become betrothed to my husband and then be a mother to my daughter, it would require me to be very careful and conscientious to not let any one role rule over the others. Because I am far from perfect, I have made the careless decisions to be more of an artist and photographer and less of a wife and mother. I stand corrected and in that I have made concerted efforts to not keep going about it in ways I know the Lord does not want me to go.

There have been a number of things I have done in order to choose my marriage and my daughter over my work and outside (of the family) interests. I haven't been alone in my efforts either. My husband has done the same sorts of things. You know what is yielded? We are walking closer with the Lord in our efforts to glorify Him in the covenant of marriage that He helped us make with Him and ultimately this is making us see our precious daughter (our only child) as the precious gift that she is both to us and ultimately to the rest of the world.

These days as my husband and I work on ourselves as well as on our own togetherness, we are relishing and cherishing the days, times, and quickly fleeting moments with our daughter. Truth be told, we never thought we would have a girl because boys run so rampantly on his side of the family. And for me? Well, when I was pregnant with my precious daughter, I was convinced that I was having a boy despite the pregnancy dreams that only showed me little girls! Even when I found out I was having a little girl it took me about a month and a half to get over the shock that I was having a daughter.

It feels like so long ago since I was pregnant with my little girl and it's no wonder because look at what she looks like now!!! As it's been said in a country song, "She's her daddy's girl and her mama's world..."

Every day I am thankful to have this precious little lady in my life. She regularly tells me I am her most favorite person in the world (though I am sure this could quickly change once she hits her teenage years) but for now? I am loving it all and soaking it all in and her father and I are enthralled with her with every day that passes and we are complimented (by others) of what a lovely little gal she is becoming.

I rarely to never to portrait sessions with her - the last time was when she was in her infancy - and that's by and large because I try my best to not always be behind my big cameras when I am with her. I take plenty of camera phone pictures of her but the other morning I did a morning mini session with her in the backyard of our home and that's what you see above. How blessed I am to have such a precious daughter as her and these pictures only serve as proof to me that I need to do portrait sessions with her way more often in order to really remember every moment of how blessed I am to have her in my life.

Sorry this has been such a long update but just wanted to share with you a huge part of the reason I am hardly active on this here blog. Thanks so much for sticking with me (this long) if you have and allowing me to share with you some of the pieces of my heart that mean so much to me.

Featured today on Bayside Bride!

I'm delighted to share a wonderful collective of unique engagement and wedding ring designs presented by Bayside Bride...

The ring shot I contributed is toward the end of the feature and showcases a ring shot I did of my own engagement and wedding ring set. Here is the picture featured on the page:

I'm actually not a huge fan of jewelry (plus for my husband!) and I'm much more a lover of a beautiful piece of artwork (not good for husband since these are typically more expensive than lots of pieces of jewelry). I love my ring set because it's something that takes the symbolism that is a beautiful piece of jewelry and infuses it with the integrity of an amazing piece of sculptural artwork. If you can believe it, this is actually an "upgrade" from my original engagement and wedding set that I got last year around the time of my third wedding anniversary. Why the upgrade so soon? Well, my original ring set was vintage in style and had a tremendous amount of filigree and engraving within the design that I had pretty much destroyed because I am so hard on my jewelry. My regular dayjob is working in high school art education classroom and all of the different types of art media I might have deal with just plain whittled the designs down to almost nothing. Not good. Not good at all. The solution to this? Well, my husband indulged me with picking something new to replace it!

I searched probably almost six months until I finally found the perfect ring and wedding set for me on Etsy via an incredible artisan jeweler named Elizabeth Scott. Her inspirations are of the botanical sort and the specific inspiration for my ring came from a sapling branch that she found when she was hiking around the area where she lives and works in her home studio. One of the best things about my set is that Elizabeth really helped me to take her design and customize it to very precise specifications (like down to measurements in the millimeters!) so that it could be as structurally sound as a piece of jewelry that would take the beating it would end up taking like my old set. Elizabeth also allowed me to use a stone called a moissanite in lieu of a diamond because I am not keen on diamonds anyway though I like the look of them . Moissanite was a stone that was a great alternative because of it's hardness and look - most people seem my ring and think it's a diamond!

So that's it. That's the story of my ring and just wanted to share a little background about it because Bayside Bride was so kind of include it in the collective that they shared today.

The new guy in town :: Pittsburgh Baby Photography

I don't believe there is anything quite like a new little baby. This past Thanksgiving allowed for me to take a road trip up north to PA and finally meet my newest nephew. He was born at the beginning of November and despite the fact that his mama says that he is quite a bit bigger than he was when he was born and doesn't feel like a newborn to her anymore, he sure seemed and looked like just about like a newborn to me!

I had a marvelous time doing a quick portrait session for him - his first professional quality one(!) - and my whole family left me to do as I saw fit. I'm not the type of baby photographer who likes doing staged composites of infants suspended in cloth hammocks, swaddled in special blankets, or bedecked in shiny satin bows and I prefer cleaner images that show clearly all of their teeny tiny details.

Some of my favorite images of babies/children are the ones that really allow you to look into their eyes because they are always so bright and curious and full of wonder. It's the type of thing we easily lose as we get older because our lives become too busy to stop and look long enough for someone to be able to look back at us. There's an old adage that the eyes are the windows to the souls and I firmly believe that no matter what our age, that's always the case.

God has not blessed me to have a newborn again just yet but until then I will relish in the opportunities that I get like this one to appreciate the beauty that is a newborn baby. I'm so honored that I was able to capture these first portraits for my nephew and I'm looking forward to more opportunities that I will have to keep documenting the way he grows up to be an upstanding and handsome young gentleman the way I know he will.

Hot off the presses!

When I'm not posting things here, it's sometimes because I'm posting things elsewhere. I write for the Fuel Brand network's photography division. My aim with my articles has been to instruct photographers how to use elements of art and design within the photographic medium. So many photographers out there (nowadays) are self-taught (and I don't begrudge a nontraditional start of a career in the least) but could have much stronger bodies of work if they considered how essential classic art teachings are for visual art itself.

I've already published articles addressing using visual texture to make photographs feel more dimensional and also touched on color theory and some of the ways that it can visually balance an image.  This month's article highlights the importance of visual branding and how it can be done effectively with typography.

Getting here from there

For as long as I can remember, I have been a workaholic. I had my first job at 15 years old and by 18 I had doubled up with work and have pretty much working like that since. To date I've probably worked over 30 different jobs in the following fields: restaurant/food/hospitality service, acute care within the clinical psychology and psychiatric field, health insurance management, quality assurance for retail sales, and classroom education and instruction. I've also successfully freelanced for both visual art and marketing/branding. What can I say? I LOVE to work. I really do.

A little more than a decade ago I was crazy enough to start my photography business.  Nowadays everybody has a photography business but way back when? It wasn't so easy to just start such a business. Digital photography wasn't nearly so affordable OR technologically advanced, photoshop was but a funny sounding word, and you had to know film and the actual functions of manual cameras and periphery equipment in order to create an even halfway decent image much less one that someone might be willing to pay you for. Still?  I had a gut feeling that venturing into the world of professional photography was something I was supposed to do.  I believed that I didn't need an actual studio in order to produce professionally recognized work. I believed that my skill and artistic voice could, should, and would be heard and I just needed to let it rise above the whisper it had been within myself.

Today I am amazed by the trajectory of my career path.  I just did an update on my official website and at this point my body of work and portfolio representation is so immense that I can't possibly even think about including half of it because there are just so many images. I am really having to pick and choose what should be cut out and replaced with newer images and it's awesome to look at the "throw away" pile and see that all of them are still really great pieces of work and are only being put out because they just aren't current enough.



I wish I could have a conversation with my younger self while she was in her school-age and college years and reassure her that telling people she wants to be an artist when she grows up will be something that really actually can happen and absolutely and honestly WILL happen. I wish I could tell her to not let others take the wind from her sails and call her endeavors lofty or pipedreams. I wish I could let her in on the seemingly secret thing that seems like the greatest key to success and happiness (but really it isn't) that if you truly do go forth and do what God has called you to do, He will provide every provision to catapult you forward and straighten every path you will find yourself walking. Even the ways that seem like they are taking you away from your dreams? Sometimes the road not taken by everyone else is actually a bit of a shortcut to the place that you couldn't believe actually existed.

Today I'm so happy to not have to "fake it until I make it" and also to know better when it comes to boldly and confidently going in the direction of my dreams. I'm still classically a workaholic with plenty of irons in the fire...

I write for Fuel Your Photography

I founded and maintain an art enrichment blog that provides lesson plan ideas and also an archive of my fine art pieces.

My precious creative endeavor that might be one of the greatest career risks for me ever but one that I cannot bear to give up despite the naysayers and accusations of pipedreaming.

When I was working a thankless office job without windows and going to meetings that seemed neverending, I dreamed of a life that was being a working artist and my art mentor encouraged to me do the things I felt and the money would follow.  I did just that and I will tell you that I am STILL doing exactly that. It's the one and only sure thing I know no matter how many people might tell me I'm crazy.

Heaven on Earth :: Maryland portrait photographer

Something you might not know of me is this: I am adopted.

Now, I don't come out with this the first time I tell people. I mean it's not like it's so much a conversation starter so much as I just feel like it's unnecessary to mention. I mean really? What does it matter? My family is my family is my family. *shrug* But I won't deny that it has made me and the way I think about my own life different than someone elses. I don't look like any of my family members. (Well... maybe my dad I do because he just happens to be Asian too but he's from a whole different country than I'm from and despite the argument that might exist that "we" all look alike. WE DON'T. But I digress.) I also don't have many things that so many others do - the stories of their origins like what it was like when they were born or even the rundown of what their first five months of their life was like. *shrug* I won't lie, it used to bother me but it doesn't anymore. Why? Because, as I said before, my family is who they are and that is my family and I'm not a person that gets easily bogged down by the messy details. Also? I feel like my life has really come full circle (so to speak) and now that I have my own child...




Well?  I guess the fact that I've been able to give her so much of what I never had? Well... I feel like I don't miss all of that so much anymore. Just the same, I've not forgotten what it was like before now.

Family is so important. I was raised to obey some very solid family values with regard to the correct and appropriate way to be towards your family (it's an Asian thing) and it's something that I believe I will raise my daughter to have as well. Yesterday I had both the joy and the honor to photograph a family for their first ever family portrait. I can only show you this one image though.

And why is it the only one? Well, because they are a family of the adopted sort as well. And per their request and my own belief and understanding of the situation, it's best this way. Right now they are at the beginning stages of being a family. Similar to what I experienced as an adopted child, they all have spent some huge chunks of time missing from each others lives. They need this time right now to live in their own private world together and make up for all of the lost time and stolen moments that we all have had and can remember of our own families - this includes me as well since I have had the great redemption of being able to have my own sweet little girl right from the very beginning.

I hope I get the opportunity for more portrait sessions for adoptive families. I have such a special place in my heart for them and I know that I will be able to capture the beauty that they have within them that usually transcends everyone else's eyes because I know what it's like to be there among them, I know what to take note of, and I love being reminded of all it myself. It only makes me love my own family that much more. You can never have enough love, you know?

Daddy's little girl :: Maryland Wedding Photography

Will be delivering the final print wedding package of over 400 images to Chelsea and Brendan within the next couple of days. God bless them for being so patient!! And God bless Chelsea and her wonderful father, Larry. Here is one of my absolute favorite images I turned out of the whole wedding. I snapped this during the traditional father-daughter dance...

And also, I have a bit of a father's day story of my own to go along with it.

I didn't broadcast this before but on the night of Chelsea and Brendan's wedding, after I had taken my last shots and I was leaving, I ended up getting a flat tire on probably one of the most deserted country roads that might be. Because I'm a take charge type, I don't flinch at things like flat tires so I immediately pulled over, jumped out of the car and began to change out the flat myself - just the way my dad taught me how(!) - with only the light of the moon and the screen of my blackberry to help me see in the dark. Even when it started to pour down rain, I kept at it because I knew it would only take me a couple of minutes to just finish and be back in the car for the hours of driving I had ahead of me. When I got to the last lug nut I hit a wall. The nut was just about completely stripped (cheap scrap metal nuts!!) and the tire iron I had wasn't coming even close to being able to get it off the bolt. The only thing that would get it off would be pliers at this point.

In the midst of me figuring out what my options were, I tried to flag down the few cars that were traveling the road I was pulled over on. Each one stopped but didn't have any assistance to offer me in the way that I really needed. It continued to rain and despite the fact that I could have gotten very mad and discouraged, I didn't. Number one: I'm not the type who gets easily mad or discouraged AT ALL and number two: I've always been taught (by my dad, no less) to always be prepared and aware of the resources you do have even before you need to employ them.

As it happened, Chelsea's dad, Larry, ended up pulling over to assist me. He determined the same thing I did - I had a VERY stripped cheap scrap metal lug nut that just wasn't coming off even with brute force and I needed some decent pliers instead of the tire iron. He, being the man of slightly greater and more immediate resources than I, called in some help in the way of a very experienced wedding guest who was an Eagle scout. Fifteen minutes later, the lug nut was off, the spare was put on, and I was adhering to the 50 mph/50 miles to go in the direction of home.

Y'know? Even though I was there getting things done and working things out, I cannot tell you how good it felt being in the situation that was completely under control from the beginning. Yeah, I'm a real can-do type but ultimately? I know that the situation worked out the way it did because of the dads - my dad and Chelsea's dad, Larry. Had my dad never taken all the time to patiently teach me how to change flat tires "just in case," I would have easily freaked out standing there in the dark on that country road while the rain just poured down on me. And had Chelsea's dad Larry never pulled over? Well, I suppose I could have been OK but really? It was just so nice to have him there being the dad he is and in the way I know my dad would have been as well in just that situation. If you ask me, dads are the greatest. And I thank God every day for a heavenly father who knew from the beginning what an essential blessing they are in this life.

Happy Father's day, to YOU! Hope you're spending the day celebrating not just your dad, but ALL of the dads out there who are nothing less than awesome.

Always camera ready :: Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

Between yesterday and today, I have spent more time in the car driving across state lines than I have been doing anything else. It was all for a wedding but this time around it was because I am a guest and NOT the photographer. Still? I will always be armed with my trusty camera.

And even when I break a lens (let's NOT even talk about this and focus on the fact that I am finally being forced to upgrade a lens) and there is strobe lighting changing constantly in a venue that has super high ceilings because what it really is is a converted barn and if I really want to get the shot that I want I have to climb from my comfortable and safe seat in the loft out onto the rafters and I also refuse to use any flash because I don't want to destroy the gorgeous ambiance created by the crystal chandeliers *catching my breath*... well? I can still turn out a shot like this and that makes me SO happy!

People? People, people, PEOPLE! I will not go to a wedding and NOT try to snag at least one amazing shot of the bride and groom even if I am supposed to be just a guest AND all of the aforementioned stuff happens. It's just not gonna happen. I will always ALWAYS be there with camera at the ready.

Congrats to you, Mary Rae and Derek! I had a marvelous time at your wedding and wish you a lifetime of wedded bliss filled with only the richest of the Lord's blessings.

I should be sleeping

I'm in the throws of multiple wedding edits and after that I have some major marketing leg work that needs to be attended to - for a new photography venture I'm taking on as well as for my other business that I'm trying to formally lift off the ground (now, a decade after the idea was hatched *sigh*) (It's called Make and Take Masterpieces if you were wondering.) Earlier today I was ordering copious amounts of art supplies and studio furniture, closing my school studio/classroom for the summer, and "producing" my now three year old daughter's "Ocean" birthday party. Truth be told, I'm not a happy camper unless I'm working, working, and working. And now when I really and truly should be sleeping because I've got another big day ahead of me tomorrow, I'm still awake, I mean I'm just barely awake and I could probably fall asleep while typing this up but still? I'm fighting it. Because in the midst of my wedding edits I churned out the image you see below. And now I cannot stop sitting here, fighting my fatigue, just to look at it for a little bit longer.

It's certainly not the most ideal or classic or traditional shot from a wedding but I'm not concerned with that. I think it's beautiful. I love the visual texture and the values and the contrasts and the composition and they way it looks like a place that just couldn't really exist - but it does indeed because I was there and I took the picture to prove it!!!

Other photographers might pride themselves on taking good pictures but I'm here to tell you that too many of them have to stop there. A good photographer, a real ARTIST won't take anything - they will CREATE something out of what could otherwise be completely insignificant or even nothing at all.

Know this: when YOU team up with me and I've got my camera in hand. We're going to do more than just get a good shot. We're going to create beauty. And it's going to come in the way of elements of art and design that go far beyond a picture. I promise you that. I absolutely pledge that to you with the highest level of confidence.

I've been waiting for you summer!

By this point in my life I have learned that I am a terrible gardener. I might even fall in the category of having a "gray thumb." (Does that even exist?) But I always appreciate beautifully designed and composed gardens and home landscaping just the same.

Last year my husband and I tried our hand at flower gardening and landscaping. We went to our favorite local greenhouse, talked up the sales associates, and figured out some flowering bushes and flowers that seemed like they would work for us. We plunked down a lot (for us!) of money to do this. And by the end of the summer, we had maybe three (all the same kind) of flowering bushes that made it. Everything else was scorched by the sun and died a very sad and painful death. It was a disheartening experience to say the least.

As a last ditch effort, we went and bought one of those big bags of seeds of the wildflower and butterfly sort that you are only supposed to sprinkle and rake into a patch of dirt and then wait for them to grow so our toddler toddler would have a little something to pick from. Amazingly, our wildflower butterfly garden took off! And this year we added some more varied wildflower seeds to the mix and we have a flower picking garden that is - though not classically manicured and pretty - is at least a little ethereal in its own fashion and definitely pretty to look like. And within just the past few weeks, it's really REALLY taken off and burst into bloom so everyday - no matter how many flowers our little toddler lady picks - there are at least a dozen more in bloom the next morning.

This morning I took some time by myself to poke around the flowers and capture some of my favorite ones. I just love poppies and prefer the red ones but the pink ones seem a whole lot more abundant. Some of the other flowers just have such great colors and the visual texture in the images is terrific. And, of course, I always love the fat little bumblebees that buzz around...

Baby N :: DC Baby Portrait Photographer

There is little that brings me greater joy than doing baby portraits. I love marveling (through my camera viewfinder) at how big their eyes get with curiosity. Their squeals and squeaks of finding their voices is one of the most pleasant soundtracks to work to and you just can't beat the sweet smell that all babies seem to have.

Little Miss N is the daughter of a childhood best friend of mine who I have known for over 20 years now. Her mama came in town to go to a college reunion. As it turns out, sweet baby N had portraits done a week after she was born but they've still not been delivered. Well, to me, that kind of thing is completely unacceptable and since this IS my best friend in the whole wide world, I just had to take care of the issue in my own way.

So here are the fruits of the hard work done by both myself and gorgeous baby N. I know I've got some decent skills, but seriously? N is such a precious beauty, I know that she's the one making ME look good.

Oh, sweet little baby N! Come back and visit me any ol' time you like. Can't wait for our next visit together.

Gear review: Built NY Medium Cargo Camera Bag

I'm a member of the school of thought that your camera doesn't matter. Whether you are a good photographer, great photographer, or AMAZING photographer, I FIRMLY believe that your camera doesn't matter. Ken Rockwell does a great job at explaining what I believe here,  But the gist of all of this soapboxing on my part is that a visual artist can be and will be as good as they are no matter what media/equipment/materials they have on hand. That being said? Appropriate materials certainly do make the job of making any kind of visual art a lot easier and more enjoyable no matter what. (I'm aware that now I've sort of contradicted myself. *sigh* Who's counting?)

Anyway, I must tell you about my new shooting bag from Built NY. Here's what it looks like. Thank you Adorama.com... (for the image AND giving me a really good price on the bag)...

As a professional photographer who does work exclusively onsite - weddings, food, portraits, scenics, etc. - and NOT in the studio (mind you I am not a natural-light photographer alone the way many these days are) I need to have the capability to be (essentially) completely mobile.

• I have to have certain lenses on me to have the flexibility of offering different perspectives shot from one spot. (Because that's what it's about - offering my unique perspective, right?)
• I must have my flashes at hand to snap on or off when I feel they are appropriate or not. 
• I need to have a place to stow away my memory cards and/or film and extra batteries.

The go-to shooting bag of the industry (specifically for wedding photography) has been the ever popular Shootsac. It's made of neoprene and was designed by a photographer for photographers for the very purpose of carting around the list of items I mentioned above. It gets rave reviews but it's also pricey to the point that you might have to put off buying that lens that you've been eyeing even longer than you already were. How pricey? Try $200 minimum. (Yeah. Not happenin' here and now or ever for that matter.) I like the things that make the Shootsac special - the neoprene, the fact that it's lightweight, that it can be collapsed and stowed away without issue when it's not in active use, etc. - but I have never been convinced that another bag couldn't be, do, and serve the same purpose as a Shootsac for a much lesser price tag.

Enter the beauty you see above that is the Built NY Medium Cargo Camera Bag. It's the shooting bag I've looked for for months now and finally can call my own! Yay!!!!

Now, this bag is no Shootsac but it's also not supposed to be. It's my understanding that it's supposed to be more of a camera bag than a shooting bag. Still? It does a great job as a shooting bag. It's all of the things I noted I liked of the Shootsac but a small fraction of the price - only $40 or so!! Not bad. Not bad at all. 

The bag is a little larger in profile than the Shootsac but it's collapsible and the neoprene material makes it something that naturally doesn't get so much in the way enough for it to be a bother. It's possible to get the large version of this bag but I am about 5'2"-ish in size (petite by most standards) and the medium suits me very well. I carry this bag messenger style and I can fit my huge full-frame camera body in it (about the size of a large DSLR body WITH a grip) and then three of my favorite lenses and a flash. It's a snug fit but not so much that I can't pull things in and out of the bag with major issues the way I would if I were having to carry the Slingshot bag I've had for years but is (honestly) kind of a pain to deal with when time is of the essence and the ability to "shoot from the hip" is completely necessary.

My verdict: Built NY Medium Cargo camera bag isn't just a good alternative to the pricey Shootsac, it's a GREAT alternative. 

The art of living

Hi! I'm still here! I'm just all over the place these days. The school year is wrapping up for me. (Did you know I'm a high school art teacher during regular business hours?) And there's always so much to be done in this time when you pair the aforementioned up with the start of wedding season for me.

I've also kicked off a new business venture called Make and Take Masterpieces that will provide painting parties and traveling art instruction for artists as young as toddlers clear up to those who are the youngest at heart! Another business? Sure it sucks up a little more of my time but it's doing something that I love which is MAKE ART and help other people learn to make art and that's what I'm all about! I'm all about the art. But don't go thinking I don't have time for photography or my beloved family. No way... my life is full of those things I love as well. In fact, here's a beautiful portrait of my tiny little lady who will soon be turning three! My how the years fly when you don't sit around fretting about how little you have left of them...

I took this impromptu portrait of my sweet little girl at Easter time so despite the fact that it looks as if she's in the starring role of a sweet and cherubic flower girl, not the case! She simply picked this dress as the one she should wear for Easter Sunday. She's all fancy and girly like that!

Anyway, just wanted to check in on things here and let you know that I've got a wedding right around the corner! It will kick off wedding season for me this year and I'm really excited about it. Stay tuned!

Shhhhh! Don't tell ANYONE.

Technically I shouldn't even be showing these to you. Why? Well, because I wasn't supposed to take them in  the first place because I was asked to be at this wedding as a bridesmaid and NOT the photographer. But, well... you can't tell me not to take pictures! Telling a visual artist/professional wedding photographer "Don't take pictures" is like saying to a fish, "Please. Try NOT to swim!" I gotta get some shots in. I HAVE TO capture and preserve the moments that are placed before me. It's what I do!

Still, as God insisted and he knows best, after I took these pictures, my memory card filled itself to max capacity and I had to stop. *shrug* Good thing because I would easily have ended up trying to stuff my full-frame into a little evening bag for the rest of the festivities. Little black bridesmaid dress and awkwardly stuffed purse? Uh... NO.  Well, at least I got some of the lovely details...

Congratulations, Alyson! The "Once upon a time..." you wished for on stars and the "Happily Ever after" you've dreamed of all of your life has finally arrived. May the Lord bless you and your holy covenant with Jorge with only the richest life has to offer.

No rest for the weary when it comes to full circle

Good morning to you!  Well... at least it's a good morning to ME since the current time is almost 2AM where I am!

Way back when I started my photography business (about a full decade now - woo!) websites were a far cry from what they are now.  To put it mildly back then people/businesses didn't really have them unless they were 1) very important, 2) very well established, and/or 3) so tech savvy and code literate (read: geeky) that they coded websites just for fine. Nowadays?  Having a virtual a virtual place to call home is just about as important as having a literal one.  If someone starts talking up their business, it's standard that they provide you with some kind of contact information that you can access electronically.  And because of this, it's very important to have a website that doesn't just work well but it also has to look good!

I have a distinct advantage over most photographers because experience in the visual arts isn't just of the photographic medium.  I am well-versed in classic and contemporary studio art, graphic design, AND web based visual design!  Since the beginning, way back when every one else was clamoring to design official websites for their business, I was visually designing, coding, and publishing things all by myself!  And though my website has gone through about three major overhauls since websites become such a "thing" to have, I have to say that my latest has to be the snazziest I've ever done.  You can find a link for it over on the left sidebar via hyperlink but here's a clickable screenshot for convenience...

My new website has been completely redesigned to feature something I've never used before and actually always railed against - flash animation!  (I'm a bit of a geeky fan of things of the analog times. What can I say?)  And though I've tried to stick with good ol' fashioned html for the most part (that's the stuff without all of the animation or blinking this or that), I started designing this flash renovation months ago and I'm happy to say that I'm not only done with it but I'm also very pleased with the results.  

So, pop on over to my official website to check out my new digs and even say hello via the new contact section.  I love when people say hello so please don't be shy!!!

Just a tad early

I know.  Christmas is still days away!  But the thing is, we've celebrated Christmas peeked into stockings and opened gifts already.  *shrug*

Merry Christmas 
and bless you and yours this season!  

May you be filled with love, joy, and peace in celebration of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

LOVE this girl!

You can call me biased but I think this little girl is easily the most adorable and precious little lady on the planet.

(OK. She IS my daughter and she IS an only child but pictures don't lie people! I mean LOOK at it!)

For as much as I love anything having to do with visual arts, the one thing in the world that will always trump that is the love I have for my sweet little girl. She's my shining star and one of my favorite muses and I thank God every day for making us mother and daughter.

Pardon the dust

Hello! And thanks for dropping by the blog! Not sure if you dropped in via my official .com (andreareamphotography.com) or if you just happened by.

I'm just renovating and redecorating around these parts so please be patient with me while I work out all of the glitches and bugs. Please feel free to bookmark this page so that you can keep up with my happenings and doings! And if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to work making sense of the mess...

Doors and Windows

People who know me best will tell you that I'm always doing something else other than what it might appear that I'm doing - ALWAYS. Perhaps it's because I'm a very creatively charged individual but I don't know. I was once described as being an illustration of raw energy. I guess I could agree that I'm a bit of a live wire at times but I think it's more that I have a natural tendency to just go constantly and in multiple directions at once. But as it happens, operating like that doesn't always work out so well and even on the 7th day God himself took a rest!

The time has come for me to take another self-imposed sabbatical. No... it's not like the last one that happened because of my joining the ranks of motherhood - this time it's because I'm prepping myself for my next great creative ventures. That's right! If you didn't catch that I indicated that it was more than one direction that I was going in (as always). There was an 's' on the end of that!

I'm not sure how much photography that I'm going to be doing other than personal work but I'll try to post at least some of what I turn out from that. I've still got one more major job on the books that I will close out within the month but other than that? I'm free to answer to whatever God is calling me to do. I'll do my best to keep you all in the loop of the next big things to come. Until then.... here's another door closed and the next window being opened...

I *heart* DC!

I'm ashamed to admit it but lately I've taken for granted how close I live to our nation's capitol. Hard to believe this has happened since just a couple of years ago, you could find me wandering about the city every free moment I had! It's not that I don't love DC but I think it's more that I've not had the time that I used to to devote to what I affectionately called "adventuring" about it.

This week is spring break for me and though I should have spent the most of today holed up inside and chained to my computer finalizing some of my latest jobs, I forced myself to get up and get out of the house because honestly? All I ever do is work. Ask anyone.

Today my husband and I took our daughter for her first day of DC adventuring and though we never made it as far as the cherry blossoms (our original destination) we had a grand ol' time riding the metro, visiting some of our favorite museums, teaching her the appreciation of urban landscapes, and eating at one of my favorite DC restaurants, Teaism.

There's absolutely no place like home - especially when your home is DC!