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...