Last Day of 2015

Nothing like a New Year’s Eve post, am I right? #thatparentlifethough

I've tried to stay true to my promise and have really limited my social media interaction since right before Christmas. It's been a welcome break, since all the extra noise from other photographers and creatives was starting to get to me. None of it was negative by any means, but I started to find myself comparing and playing the “who's better than…” game and that's never fun. Not to mention a total creativity killer.

I have been signing in occasionally to see what friends are up to and reading articles that make it on my feed. Since Christmas, I've seen a lot of year in review posts and #2015bestnine posts, which have been a lot of fun to see. At the beginning of this week I started to feel like maybe I should join in. Photographers usually post a compilation of their favorite images of the year. This year it seems like many of the photographers I follow had huge years where they skyrocketed into fame (at least in the photography world, and rightfully so). They posted beautiful photos accompanied with some pretty profound words about the year we're leaving and the one we're entering. It was inspiring to read, and simultaneously really humbling.

Here's the thing. 2015 was my first full year as a business and it was more successful than I could have possibly imagined. I am so thankful for all of your support, I literally do not have the words adequate enough to express it.

2015 has also left me restless, because I know I can do better. I'm constantly learning and I feel like with every shoot I get one step closer to capturing the story of the session (and not just “taking pictures”). Thank you for trusting me with this process.

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Today we took the girls up to Snoqualmie for a little sledding. Bernadette has been talking about snow nonstop since watching Frozen for the first time (like nine months ago), and we thought today would be the perfect opportunity with how much snow there has been.

I had dreamt about this day, thinking it would be the perfect opportunity to snap some adorable photos of the girls in the snow. Of course, reality set in pretty quickly when I realized Reece and I would have to divide and conquer: he with Bernadette and Gus and me with Madison. It was a stunning day today, but frigid cold so once I got Madison all dressed we were out of the car for about ten minutes. And then I spent the rest of our trip sandwiched between the two car seats, alternating between nursing her and holding her while she slept. Not quite how I imagined the day.

But you know what folks? That's life. It's not perfect, it's usually messy and sometimes there are tears involved (for full disclosure, no adults shed a tear during our trip).

I decided to take out the camera and shoot life from my perspective in the car. It was a great exercise and I'm so glad I did it. It was a little tricky and awkward at times. The photos aren't perfect, the composition may be off in a few. I missed the focus on some. But I love them, because they tell the story of the day and that's something we'll be able to look back on and smile about for years to come.

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And so, with 2016 fast approaching, here is my promise to you:

I promise to keep working on my craft so I can better tell your story, no matter how crazy or messy it may be. Why? Because your story is beautiful. And it deserves to be captured.

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Here are my favorite snaps from today