"There's nothing quite as sweet as tiny little baby feet"

Ok so when I said during the pregnancy and babymoon stage I put down the camera, it was kind of a little fib. I did go to a couple workshops, but for the most part I put it down...

One of the best workshops I went to was in June when my little one was about 5 weeks old. It was the Central Florida PUG Baby Whisperer workshop. It was all about newborn photography, and I absolutely fell in love with photographing squishy little babies. I learned so much about working with newborns, and I can't wait to work with more in the future.

                           

When I originally started this blog, I thought I would rock it's socks off.

I love to talk. About anything and everything. (Like I was that kid in class who always had their desk turned around to the wall in an effort to make said kid stop talking to people all day long.) That kind of didn't happen, I totally didn't rock this thing.

But I have a really good excuse for neglecting this blog... my excuse is that life happened.



Really, life happened  :)

Since I last wrote, I had an amazing baby girl. My husband and I are over the moon in love with her.

During the pregnancy I put the camera down and focused on myself, our baby and our changing family. I took that time to savor every moment, from every kick, to every mood swing, every trip the beach or afternoon with just the pups and my husband and EVERY.SINGLE.NAP. I really let myself enjoy that super special time in my life. I also really searched deep within myself and I came to the conclusion that I am still chasing this dream of mine, and it is never too be who I want to be. I really enjoyed my pregnancy and took the months after having Elizabeth to really enjoy her and enjoy those moments of new motherhood that pass way too fast. I've settled into a new home and the new job of being a mother and now I am ready to pick the camera back up and get myself going with this business.

I recently upgraded to a Nikon D600, full frame baby!! (Thank you to my dear husband Jeremy for the birthday/anniversary gift)

I attended the Central Florida PUG 2nd anniversary party recently, and being back around that wonderful group on people really helped me reset myself and pick back up on this journey.

So here we go again, and  hopefully I will do better this time.

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” ~Anthony J. D’Angelo

Last March I won a chance to attend Kristen Weaver's AWESOME workshop called Images For a Cure. Proceeds went to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. You can learn more about the workshop and everything that Kristen does with Images for a Cure, here.

It was my first workshop ever, a two day event. Day 1 was filled with talks from some of the best photographers in Central Florida, and it covered everything from marketing, to posing to getting published. I think I took more notes in those 8 hours than I have ever! Day 2 was a shoot with Melanie and Brad Watson from La Dolce Vita in Jacksonville; they taught us how to capture a wide variety of pictures with limited time and locations.

Attending that workshop really showed me how much you can learn in one day, and how exciting and full of growth opportunities workshops are. I was really intimidated walking into the workshop since I'd never been to one before, but now I can honestly say I love attending them. They open my eyes in so many ways.  I loved hearing about what works for different people, that they've gone through some of the same trial and error and that they aren't afraid to admit they are still learning themselves. Every workshop I've attended now has left me inspired in ways I can't describe and I am happy that Images For A Cure was the workshop that broke the ice for me.

These are a few of my favorites photos from the day.

Credit goes to:
Images for a Cure- Studio Hosts- Melanie and Brad Watson -www.LaDolceVitaStudio.com
Image for a Cure Founder- Kristen Weaver www.kristenweaver.com
www.imagesforacure.com
Hair and Makeup Artist- LuisaV Bridal Team www.luisavbridal.com
Dress: www.somethingbluebridalsalon.com
Flowers: www.leeforrestdesign.com

Something OLD, something new, something borrowed...

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44201335


I think the story at the above link is one of the coolest things I've heard about lately. I love traditions and passing items down through families. I wish I'd had that opportunity on my wedding day!

I did get married in the same church that my grandma did, and had a cake from the same bakery as she did though. :) I gave up both a beach wedding at sunrise (one of my dreams) and a Disney world wedding with my absolute dream photographer to have that wedding, but I am so close to my grandma, I think I made the right decision!

Sooo it's been a while since I posted...

Things have been crazy and I've been slacking on updating this thing, but I should be back to it soon. Here is just a little bit of what I've been up to that has kept me from updating:

I'm on my second trip to Virginia in 6 weeks, and I have one more coming up in 3 weeks, so I've spent a lot of time on I-95 lately!

My laptop died right after we got back from the first trip to Virginia in June, my WONDERFUL husband bought me my first Mac for my birthday, and I love love LOVE it! I am the PROUD owner of a MacBook Pro. MacBook, where have you been all my life?!

Let's see... what else...

 I've had a Jared Platt Lightroom PUG meeting that I attended which was life changing! It really opened my eyes the the workflow and how to make things easier for myself when editing... so the next day I took an 8 hour Lightroom Workshop with Jared Platt. The whole thing was amazing and I learned more than I could have dreamed of. I have a workflow plan now and I love it! I have a go to that I can actually go to!

The same night as the Jared Platt workshop, I also attended a Two Bright Lights workshop and learned a little bit about submitting my images for publishing. I have a ton of info from that presentation that I filed away in my brain, so when the time comes to submit images, I know where to start.

There was the Abby Liga PUG which I watched streaming online (It was the first PUG I missed, so sad!) and she also spoke about submitting images.

I attended the Joe Buissink PUG meeting and it was also AMAZING! Joe takes absolutely breathtaking photos, and he was one of the most passionate speakers I have seen in the past year. I can't get over the passion he had while presenting, and I hope to attend more workshops or presentations from him in the future. Jim Collins also gave us a great talk about the industry and how to be successful in it.

I'm so disappointed I couldn't attend the Wedding Workshop by Tabitha McCausland and the ShootQ/Pictage bootcamp because of traveling, so hopefully they will both have more workshops in the future.


So all in all it's been a hectic 2 months since I've posted, and while I've been learning and business plan sketching and idea forming, I have not been editing too much, and that makes me disappointed in myself.

I hope to get back into the swing of things as soon as I get back to Florida next week, I have a lot of work to catch up on that can be "put to bed" in a short time and my goal is to clear up all those little hanging items before hitting the road to come back to Virginia.

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."Plato

So this was my beginning...

These are a few photos from the very first bridal shoot I went on. It was a day after shoot for one of my very best friends Valerie. My other good friend Laura Fulmer of Laura Fulmer Photography photographed the wedding and told me to grab my camera and come along and practice and watch her pose and do her thang! Laura was one of the first people who inspired me to pick the camera back up. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to Laura for letting me tag along. I can't believe it will be 2 years this November since I took these. Valerie and Jon, I love yall, and I am still so grateful to have you in my life and am still so honored that I was part of such a special day!

Now I really hope they all display correctly and aren't too crazy! I am still feeling my way through all of this resizing and posting stuff. I'm editing to add that I see that they got just a little blurry when I resized them for posting. I promise yall, they aren't as blurry as they look!

In Valerie's family we have a joke about the "adoration" picture of Valerie looking at Jon. It goes a little something like this...

I call this one the Ralph Lauren ad...its that hazy light and a stare in the camera, reminds me of an ad so much!

You have PUG friends?? Anna are you talking to dogs now??

So in my intro post, I mentioned my PUG friends. I swear I don't just sit around talking cameras to dogs :) I'm not that crazy... yet. Well maybe I do talk to my dogs but I swear I'm not nuts!

My PUG friends are an absolutely FABULOUS group of people who have really changed my life in more than just the photography category.

PUG groups are Pictage User Groups. Once a month all levels of photographers in central Florida meet up and talk all things photography. Basically a great way to network and meet other photographers in your area. Pictage sponsors the meetings, but you do not have to be a member of Pictage to attend which is great for photographers of all levels. I plan on joining as soon as I build my portfolio and finally get my business off the ground.

Sometimes the meetings are based around a photo shoot, like Mark Harmon's lighting workshop or Misty's engagement shoot or Tabitha's trash the dress workshop, I always find the hands on shooting the most fun, but we've had a bunch of really awesome speakers come and talk to us. Damon Tucci, Jim Davis-Hicks and Nikole Lim have all stopped by to talk to us as well as some of our very own PUG members who wanted to pass on tips and tricks that work for them, some excel in branding, others in work flow or how to build your business. It's great to hear from other people in the business in an open setting, it takes a lot of the pressure off for a newbie like me.

The meetings are something I really look forward to, and I wish they were once a week instead of only once a month! I haven't missed one yet, and I love seeing everyone so much that I even went to one the day I got out of the hospital from my appendectomy (Of course Jeremy drove me to that one and watched me like a hawk) A couple of them even stopped by to see me in the hospital which really made me happy, its nice to have met such awesome friends in such a short time here in Orlando.

Before going the Central Florida PUG I was VERY intimidated by professional photographers, but everyone is so open and happy to help each other out. These people get it, nobody was born a professional and every artist was an amateur at some point. They come together to talk about the common denominator, being an artist and a business owner. Not everyone in our group is a wedding photographer either, while our group seems to be made up majorly of wedding photographers, there are commercial, photojournalists, lifestyle and family, kids and children and boudoir photographers just to mention a few. And these people are amazing, I know some people who volunteer for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep which helps family that are loosing a newborn, some help out with local charities, like the women's shelter and the Heart Gallery of Orlando as well as Thirst Relief and there were a ton of PUG members that helped out with Help Portrait.
I just want to give a HUGE shout out to my "PUG Family" y'all are great and I don't know what I would do without you guys, you've inspired, awed and amazed me. Thanks for every bit of fire you've put back into me. I can honestly say, without you guys I know I wouldn't be on this journey right now and I am so thankful for y'all! MUAH!

And to anyone who is reading this outside of Central Florida, check into things and see if you guys have a PUG in your area, I hope yours is full of as many awesome people as this one!

And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

So I am taking the first official step of this journey.... 

I am finally using this blog that has been sitting around empty for several months. I feel like I should tell you a little bit more about myself. 

Photography has been a passion of mine since I was a little girl. When I was about 7 or 8, I received my first camera in my Easter basket. It was a pink 110 film camera, nothing fancy but I spent countless hours looking through that thing. I can't even begin to imagine how much money my family spent developing those rolls of film. And I laugh looking at those photos now, pictures of my stuffed animals, trees, my dolls, anything and everything that was sitting still long enough for me to whip out the camera and hit the button. Eventually I moved up and onward in the camera world to a 35mm point and shoot and onward to a "real" 35mm camera for high school photography. I did put the camera down for several years while I worked in a law firm, but let's forget about that and fast forward to December 23, 2004... My first digital camera! I kept that camera on me at all times. I literally used it to death, but it renewed that flame in me and eventually I moved on to a dslr, talk about freedom!  Now I am finally following my heart and my dreams and pursuing professional photography. My dream is to own my own wedding photography business, weddings are my passion, to me it just can't get better than a wedding day. The passion, romance, emotions in the air, they inspire me. I want to be the person who catches every unforgettable moment for a couple, and give them something they look back to 50 years down the road and say that was one of the best days of my life. 

Right now this blog is devoted to being my online portfolio. I'm currently working on learning, growing and continuing to develop myself as an artist before I start my actual business.I am always looking for more practice, please contact me if you are in the Orlando area and would like to set up a time to play model for me.

There are a few people who I couldn't do this without, so the following is a special shout out to those people: 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of my friends and family who have supported and believed in me all these years, the Nalls family, who spent too many years at Rehoboth beach with a camera up their nose. :) A big thank you and I love you to my Nannly who gave me that first camera and has put up with me all these years. 

To my South Orlando PUG family (now Central FL PUG) I can't thank y'all enough for the amount of support, strength and courage you guys have given me. Each and every one of you has in some way inspired and left an imprint on my life. 

I have to thank another person who has helped me begin to blossom, Misty Miotto is an absolutely wonderful person and I am so thankful to have met her. In 2010 she pushed me and has given me the courage to go after my dreams. Misty they broke the mold with you! You are unlike any person I have ever met and it has truly been a blessing to get to know you and your wonderful family.

I can't be more thankful that GOD sent me a husband so supportive of this journey-more often than not, its been a bumpy road, and I'm sure there are quite a few bumps ahead of me while I continue to learn and grow and develop my artistic style. Thank you Jeremy, I love you so much for everything, from being there when things are hard to pushing me when you know that I need it. And even for all the pranks you pull. I read those words you sent me everyday--“Look to the future, not to the past. Reach for the stars, not for anything less. Hope for the impossible, not the easy way out. Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do. Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."