What it means to have purpose | Palm Coast Photographer

It's about serving people who serve others.  I am happy I found this, it isn't about the steps you must take in order to find your purpose, it's about an experience that helps us take a step back and ask what our purpose is.  Are we struggling in our lives asking the question why we do what we do day in and day out?

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day, a day to celebrate the past, the present, and the future of women's achievements!  This year's theme is Connecting Girls, Inspiring Women.

Even today there are injustices all over the world concerning the rights of women.  It is unfortunate and disheartening.  But I believe that we live in a century of empowerment.  The internet has given the world a voice.  People have access to information like NEVER before.

Knowledge is Power.

I could save this story for Mother's day, but I'm going to share it today because it has reminded me of where I came from.

The truth is that my mother and I have a complicated relationship.  We LOVE each other dearly, but there is sometimes a struggle of understanding.  Now that I am a mother, I get why there is that struggle.  But, that doesn't mean I don't respect her or the things she has done in order to give me the life I have now.  I wish I would have understood it while growing up, but I was a selfish teenager and couldn't see past my own world.

When I was 13, my parents divorced.  It was probably a good thing as they were in a passionate, yet volatile relationship.  There were problems and my mother felt necessary to take the reigns and get us out of a situation that would have been detrimental to the future of our family.  Now, just so you know I love my Dad.  But, he is human and made mistakes in his life.

I'll give you the short version of our life after the divorce.  My mom worked at our local county library, in a pretty big town - not city mind you.  When my parent's divorced, she was the only one to provide for us and was making MAYBE a little over minimum wage.  This was back in the early 90's.

She won the car in the divorce and unfortunately didn't win on that one because it didn't last very long. She had already decided to get us bikes, and had put them on layaway at the local walmart.  I'm not sure how much they cost, but I was elated.  I was also homeschooled for two years prior to the divorce and would be entering junior high in the 7th grade.  I just thought it would be a great way to get to school.

Then the car died.  And she didn't have the money to replace it.  So she sold the car for parts and paid off the layaway.  This was the beginning of my torture as a teenager.

With little money and bicycles, we did EVERYTHING on those two wheels.  Grocery shopped, went to church, movies... if we had to be somewhere, we used our bikes.  I was already being made fun of because I was amazonian tall and had big unruly curly hair - this was the topping and I was not happy about it.

My diet at the time consisted of MASSIVE amounts of PB&J, Tuna fish sandwiches, Yogurt, Beans and Jasmine rice from the Flea Market and Fried Egg Sandwiches.  All these things, store brand, meant cheap eats that were full of sustenance.

But, eventually things began to change for us.  My mom went back to school, taking the public transportation over the bridge to the local community college and then eventually got a new job at the school board as a secretary and bought a car because we were TOO far away to bike.  So, she bought a 1970's something blue tank with a radiator problem that drove like a bullet out of a shotgun.  We had to keep gallons of water in the massive you-could-hide-a-dead-body-in-here trunk, and we weren't able to drive very far because of it.  Then we moved into the teeniest tiniest of homes.  It was 3 beadrooms with a living room and couldn't have been more than 500 sqft.  My mom took the room that was more like a closet and my brother and I got the two massive bedrooms.  That was when she was really into healthy eating... but that is a different story.  

She graduated with her AS in programming and went from secretary to programmer in what I can remember in 2 years.  She got a huge pay raise and she bought a new car.  It was a Chevy Sprint.  It was ridiculously cute, even made it to Oklahoma and back, and eventually became mine.  Then she bought a house...

WAIT.

Did I mention that this woman did all this without ANY help?  Aside from a Pell Grant she received for going back to college.  Everything she did, she did on her own.  No family help, and for a long time without ANY child support.  Even my dad's family didn't make sure that my brother and I had food to eat.  She did it all on her own.

She had no support system.  And I was a HORRIBLE teenage child.  My world at the time, revolved around me.  I was ungrateful.  But today, I am the age my mother was when she divorced my dad.  I am not in the same situation.  But I have realized that I where I am today because of her.

Today, my mom owns 3 homes.  She's married to a man that treats her like a queen, and she's attempting to do something she's always wanted - be an children's author.

This may be a long post, but it's short in comparison to life that my mother gave to my brother and myself.  We went from meagerly living to an abundant life. Sometimes I forget that.  I'm a bit selfish now, but memories like these bring me back and realize that while I can quote powerful women like Oprah, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Meade - but I am blood related to a powerful and empowering woman.  She is welcome to her criticisms and her opinions in this world because she has earned them.  And though we may not always agree, I do find it easier to respect her because of the things she did for her children.

My Mother is inspiring.  She is empowering.  I hope that your Mother is that for you too.  This Woman's Day, tell your mother how she inspires you and share your story with the other women and girls in your life to inspire them too.

Natural Light

I am a natural light photographer.  What does this mean?

A lot of photographers who have less than 5 years of professional experience can claim to be a natural light photographer because they aren't familiar with studio lighting, and guess what - that is ok!    We all are learning and have to learn somewhere.

But what does it mean when I say that  I am a natural light photographer.  I have worked with both studio lighting and natural lighting, also called ambient, and I prefer it.  Natural light can surround your subject in light, or bathe it in light.  However, it can also be very harsh and too bright for compensation.  Typically, natural light photographers don't use a light meter to capture readings, although to be proficient one should.  But they should have a basic understanding of how light works.

I am always training myself to perform better under natural lighting conditions.   With and with a reflector or a scrim, on my own or with an assistant.  And using a variety of different subjects; people, nature, or inanimate.

I have a maternity session coming up in April that I am trying to prepare for and want to shoot it outside at the beach.  But I want to make some parts look like they were shot in a studio.  Hmmm... this is where it gets tricky.

As a contemporary portrait photographer, I always try to keep fresh and current and set my own trends.  It will be fun to see the outcome!

I learned some new posing techniques over the weekend and here is a test shot I did with my daughter in my natural light studio.  Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!!

Consistent Learning

I wasn't a good highschool student.  Well, no I take that back.  I was an AB student, but I knew how to work the sytem.  I regret that.  Because I never really paid attention and work came easy for me.

That isn't a good thing.  I didn't really spend a lot of time at school either.  As an adult.  It has all changed.  Not everything is easy for me.  And I like it.  It is a challenge.  But there is no reason to be complacent.

I do things every week to learn; read a book, read a blog, learn a new recipe, learn from a master photographer, I take a class or read up on business, help my daughter with homework... this is all learning.  I also read news articles, mostly they are tech related - some are world and some are environmental - very few are political.  I take the information I read and I try to take something away from it.

Quora.com is another one of those places I go to learn.  Quora.com is like a giant ask me network.  Ask something, read answers of a question, or answer someone.  It's a brilliant website because of the amount of variety out there.

Learning exercises the mind and invigorates the soul.

This weekend I spent time taking a virtual photography course.  It was amazing and taught by the amazing and gorgeous Sue Bryce.  I was elated she was teaching, and am so happy that I have taken the course.  She, as have past instructors helped me to open my mind and my heart in my business to take it to the next level.

The wheels in my head are already spinning and I'm excited to learn more and do more as I grow as a person and as a photographer.

What do you do to learn?  How do you expand your mind?  How do you educate to become more soulful, more balanced, grow?  I'd like to know.

This is how I spent some time learning today.  It's been a long time since I took a headshot, I learned some tips from Sue Bryce and I used them with my husband when he needed a new headshot for his FB account and a teaching account, this is what I captured.  He's gorgeous, and british... love.

Are you looking to update your headshot?  Are you a recently displaced worker?  Let me create a gorgeous headshot for you. 

P.S.

If I haven't said it before, I'm saying it now.

Thanks so much for reading my blog :)  I really do appreciate it!