You Will Never Take My Memories From Me

This morning after waking up from a quick overnight sleep at a hotel at the halfway point in our return home from vacation, we were shocked and saddened to find that our van window was shattered and we had been robbed of all our belongings that we had left in there....which was pretty much everything one needs for a seven day vacation times four adults and two kids!...all our favorite clothes, favorite shoes, fun electronic things to keep the kiddos occupied on a long trip like DVD player, leapster, etc...all the chargers, gps, everything... Gone.

I would have gladly donated a week's worth of clothes to a family (in fact I pretty much did when decluttering the closet this spring) and would have given toys, electronics, and stuffed animals to those less fortunate at Christmas time. But to have someone violate, damage, and trash our vehicle while looking for our "treasure" pains me. I am too naive to truly believe there are people in this world that would do something so low. But I guess it's true.

Thankfully no one was hurt, and thankfully I practically sleep with my camera, phone, and laptop within arms reach. As saddened as I am that we lost some of our favorite things, I would have literally been SICK had I lost the photos I had just taken from the past week or my equipment. I am so grateful to still have all of that intact, and will share highlights soon.

No matter what we will still have the memories of the fun we had at the beach, pool, pirate adventure, dolphin cruise, and alligator alley.

A thief would pretty much have to drag me along kicking and screaming behind my camera bag to ever be able to take those from me.

To the crooks that now have our stuff, may you be clothed in nice warm clothes, walk in perfectly comfy shoes, be entertained by fun games and have the batteries forever charged in all your electronics...but may you also be haunted forever by this sucky crime you just committed. :( I will sleep tonight knowing I still have photographic memories of a wonderful vacation, I hope you don't sleep for weeks.

Touched by an Angel

 

I was touched this morning to find this little gem in my Facebook inbox. Reading it sent goosebumps through my entire body and tears down my face. This particular story is one that I will carry with me forever and solidifies yet again that THIS is why I do what I do. The fact that this mom had no idea who I was, we never even crossed paths, but for her to go through the trouble of tracking me down JUST so she could say these kind words warms my heart. I just had to share.

"Well, I had heard you had a page on Facebook but it has taken me some time to find you and the strength to write this email. I know that you probably don't know me, but I am sure you remember my son. On June 5, I gave birth to my stillborn son, and you were generous enough to take his photos. This time had been heartbreaking for my husband and I, but we are slowly getting through it. I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for us that day. Words will never be able to describe how grateful we are for the work you did. I have not seen the pictures yet, but I am working with a therapist to see them soon. He viewed them and said they are beautiful. The only chance I will ever be able to see my son is through your photos and I will forever cherish the work that you did.
I hope that one day we can meet you under happier circumstances."- THE MOM

As difficult as it was for me to take those photos, it was nothing compared to how hard it was for them to lose a child. It was the least I could do for them to be brave and give them a beautiful memento of their tiny angel. I am reminded daily that I am living, breathing, doing the absolute right career. Giving people memories to last a lifetime through the art of my photos. The photos I took of that one pound little angel will be treasured forever by that family and I'm privileged to be a part of such a private moment of their lives even though it was a sad one. :(

I asked her permission to share and here was her response:

"I would absolutely love for you to use our comment because your work meant so much to us. It is up to you if you delete our name or baby's name. We feel honored to talk about our son and thank the people that helped us, it is what is getting us through each day. We had a friend that also delivered a stillborn son and her biggest regret is that she has no photos of him. People don't realize how important pictures are until they don't have them and you can never turn back time to get them. We had a short amount of time with our son and we had to make very difficult decisions during that time that I was in complete shock. I knew that I didn't get to thank people that were a huge part of a very powerful moment in our life. We would love to meet you and would be honored to have you take pictures of our family in the future. Knowing we lost our son to an umbilical cord accident and it had nothing to do with my health, we will try again to have children because we can't imagine not giving "baby's name" a sibling."

Always Learning

I sat in on an all day online webinar today learning some great new things. I'm not going to reveal just what tid bits I have picked up, but just know that I do this not only for me because I'm eager to learn more and more about something I love, but for all of you as well. The more I learn, the better I get, and the more exciting my work will be as I keep up with some hot new trends!

Bloggin on the go...

So I just decided it might be more realistic to blog while on the go. I have had full intentions of keeping up with a blog and share my insights with all of you... Behind the scenes and inside the photographer's heart and mind type of things after the photo shoots.

Let's get real though, it's been nearly impossible to keep up with a blog with the schedule I've been blessed with.

I am so blessed to have found/created the perfect career that is rewarding in every sense of the word. Never does a day go by that I feel like its work even though I put in more hours in a day making things happen than I ever have for any other job EVER! The past two and a half years have been an amazing journey of growing my business and meeting sooooo many wonderful people! Who knew I'd be here?

Some already know, but others may not realize....Outside of my own MazPix shoots, I also manage three hospitals for Bella Baby Photography, which I am an independent contractor for. I spend two to four days a week in the hospital actually shooting as well on top of my manager duties. We are growing too, so hopefully I'll be managing a few more in the near future!!!

Spending a few days a week with squishy newborns and happy moms is so refreshing and it's so cool to be a part of such a special moment of so many people's lives! To know its MY photos that people will be busting out in 20+years for their kids wedding sideshows just makes me smile. (or whatever new technology it might be)

The days of the thankless jobs where I barely even got a thank you at the end of the year have been replaced by numerous thank you's a day! And I THANK YOU for that!

When I'm not photographing, managing, editing, I'm living and living life. ;) i have a wonderfully supportive husband and our kiddo just turned five and is one hard little fella to keep up with. We each have our own one night a week to stay active in the sports we love and grew up playing, and then the kiddo has Tball three nights a week, so most nights we are out and about playing hard, staying young!

So you see how this whole blog just wasn't working out well.

Those who know us, know we are an ALWAYS ON THE GO family and I just discovered my blog has an app...weeeeee! So all this time I spend staring out car windows, maybe I can do a periodic blog post!

I do have another blog around cyber space somewhere that has some more recent posts, I'll have to track it down and combine....but for now, we have arrived at our destination, so that's all for now. Stay tuned, we'll see how well this mobile blog works out! ;)

Hilary & Skye

I shot my first official paid wedding over the weekend. It was a perfect one to start with because it was actually very low key and the couple was very laid back about everything. The couple was actually from Florida & they came back to Central Illinois to do a vow ceremony & reception in front of their family. Everything took place at the Legion Hall in Farmer's City. We started the family photos outdoors, but after about 20 minutes, everyone was beginning to melt! It was a very hot & sunny summer day and rather than having everyone with sweat spots on their clothing and sweat beads dripping from their faces in the photos, the bride decided to move the rest of the group shots indoors. Thankfully I brought my backdrop! So I set it up on the stage, which worked out nicely not only for the group shots, but as the background for the vow ceremony as well.

Like I said, it was the perfect wedding to start with, low pressure, nice couple, short day. Excellent one to get the first time jitters out of the way on! Bring on the next one!

Forever Friends

I had such a blast photographing this Forever Friends session last night. It was a perfect evening for pictures and the girls were so much fun! From pretending to splash in the fountain, to trying not to fall in the lake, to almost peeing your pants trying to climb a tree... they laughed and giggled the whole time. It reminded me of myself with my friends being happy go lucky with not a care in the world. I had a professional friend session taken with my best buds when I was in high school and I just love those photos and the best part is, I am still friends with all of them! These are great pictures to have because as you part ways for college, you can take your besties with you and keep them close to your heart. Maybe after school, you will all settle back in the same area, maybe not, but no matter what happens, these are the type of friends that will be with you for a lifetime. You will look back at these pictures when you are old ladies and wish you were young enough again to climb a tree and remember how much fun you had doing it! If you want a Forever Friends shoot with your best buds, call me up! They are so much fun to shoot!

Official Photographer for the Normal CornBelters!!

One day I just happened to think...hmmmm... I'm a new business... The CornBelters are a new organization... I wonder if they have a photographer yet. And I simply picked up the phone, called the office and talked to the guy I needed to talk to. Sure enough! They were in need of a photographer. I told him I was planning on going to the game on Friday anyway, so I would snap some pics and send them to him & we could discuss early next week. So that brought us to Monday when I got the call to come meet with him on Tuesday. I asked if he needed me to bring anything else..i.e. more pics... he said, "Nope, I've seen enough!" And the rest will be history as I embark on the amazing opportunity and the exposure that will come with it! I will be taking action shots for baseball cards and team photos along with anything else they need a photographer for throughout the seasons.

Here's a few from my "trial" shots, but I have since got a new lens and I can't wait til Monday to go use it!!!

beautiful night at the Corn Crib...

meet Corny.. the mascot

safe @ 3rd...

Pretty Pretty Peacock

I always go to zoos and WISH that the peacocks would spread their feathers for me. Today was the day! And it was more amazing than I imagined it would be. What an absolutely breathtaking bird! I only wish I would have had my professional camera with me today, but I didn't want to chance it with the weather forecast. My point and shoot came through for me though! Enjoy this beautiful bird...

Daycare Orders

WOW, I am blown away at the turnout of the daycare shoot. I mean, I heard to positive feedback, but the result has far surpassed my expectations! Thank you for your business & know that I had a blast photographing your children! And if you ever have the need for a personal shoot… birthday coming up or family shots… just let me know! I’d be happy to come to you and take some more!

Love those Curls

Here’s an example of an active little squirt that mom was getting a bit frustrated with. I told her no worries, I was getting some great shots. Mom wanted her to stand by the greenery… no need, let her go down the slide, I’ll get the greenery in the background. Mom wanted her to sit still, no need I captured that before she got up. Again with the kids, I enjoy the challenge of chasing them around, letting them be themselves and when they have the right expression and the right background behind them, I snap away. Here mom was worried that she didn’t cooperate, but as you can see, she’s actually a beautiful, happy-go-lucky, photogenic little angel.