Hello! I'm Back!

Hello everyone! Yes, I know it has been a while (well, a long while) since I have posted anything, but I'm here. Looking back, I didn't plan on taking this break, it just sort of happened. I just stopped posting photos, even when I had images to post. In all reality I quit taking pictures, I guess I felt like I really didn't have anything to say. Not with my words or with my photos. I had somehow lost the joy that I had found in photography. I started to doubt myself: Did I even know what I was doing? Did I even know how to work this camera, this software? Did I even know how to tell a story with my photos? Did I even have anything of importance to say? "From my heart to yours" this is the tag line I use at the top here. But my heart felt like I didn't have anything of value to give.

So what did I do? I just didn't do anything. Like a lot of us, I was stuck and I didn't know how to start again. But my God, my Father is so faithful! He knows my heart, He created it. He knows when I'm stuck and He knows how to fix it. He was waiting the whole, long time, waiting for me to get out of the way and to be in a place where I could hear Him. Hear that He loves me, that He has plans for me, that there are certain things that I need to do to fully get out of this stuck place. Am I out of the stuck place? Not fully, but I am getting there. This is the first time in a long while that I have been at peace. Peace with myself, my decisions, my husband, that inside place that always felt like I was constantly spinning. Peace.

The coolest thing about this is that my Father used photography, something that I love, that speaks to that creative part of me, to get me out of the stuck place. He used a weekend photography workshop so that I was in a place that I could hear Him. Kind of like He snuck up on me from behind to start whispering truths into my ear while I was focused on something else.

Well, here I am, back at it. Here is the first look at what my heart wants to share. A family portrait session from yesterday. Good Friends, wonderful scenery, and beautiful girls. From my heart to yours.

Where exactly did April go?

As I look back over this blog I noticed I haven't posted in over 2 weeks. The only thing I can think of is some kind of space-time-warp thing happened and I lost all of the month of April, well almost 3 weeks of it... Actually, I have been extremely busy but that is no excuse for not keeping my promise to myself to post at least 1-2 times a week. So, to wipe the slate clean and start all over again let me show you what I was doing 2 weekends ago in Baltimore, MD.
The weekend of the 19th I attended a photographic lighting workshop in Baltimore, MD. These 3 beautiful ladies were some of the models who came out to help us. Kerena, Lindsey, and Melissa were wonderful to work with and very professional through out our learning process. It was great to be able to do nothing for 9 hours but think and talk photography with others who love it as much as I do.
So in between working a job that pays the bills, working with teenagers 11+ hours a week, and working to keep my house from junking up around me I love to work with my camera to produce beautiful pictures. Can you tell how I handle everything else?

I hope you have a great weekend.