Good morning friends! I have been thinking for the past week on how I can incorporate my family life, passion for photography and client previews all onto this blog of mine in a seamless and non-chaotic way. But, the truth is that if I were to even begin to give you a glimpse of what it is like for us at home you would think, that sounds pretty chaotic to me… So, what the heck. This is going to be our home to share what it’s like for us on a daily from the waking up to two toddlers banging on their bedroom wall to what it’s been like for me to pursue this career.
Like most photographers out there, from a young age I had an interest in taking lots and lots of photos. Bad ones I might add, but back then I swore it was the camera that I was using and not my lack of knowledge on how to properly expose and maneuver manual settings. Little did I know that my interest in photography would grow into a passion beyond my control. About seven years ago, I realized that I take pictures with my mind everywhere I go and no matter what is going on. I observe situations with such a keen eye for detail that it sometimes distracts me from what is actually happening. For instance, there are times my boys are playing or doing something incredibly cute that “deserves” a picture, but we happen to be in a hurry to get out the door because we have an appointment or an arrangement or something of that sort. The ‘normal person’ wouldn’t stop to get her camera and continue to cheer on the laughter and playing while she photographs them, but that’s what I do. Some call it a gift and I just call it being attached to the lens. I want to preserve the memory of their childhood as clear as if it was happening right before me each time I look at their images.
Ever since I could remember I had big dreams of being a mom. The kind of dream that takes over your whole life. I believe that I was at first interested in photographing families and children because I wanted to have my own so badly. Because that wasn’t the case at that time in my life, I lived vicariously through the lives of my clients and all the happiness I witnessed when spending time with them. It was in itself a dream come true. I loved every minute of the beginning of my career. All the struggles and successes that come along with figuring out how to be the person that can provide someone with a picture worth saving forever. I wanted to do so much, I wanted to give so much and figuring out how to do so took lots of time on my end. My personal life was interfering with my professional one and that created a conflict within me that ended up putting this dream on hold. I didn’t know how I would recover from this down the road. In the photography business if you don’t keep growing you pretty much are at a standstill that leads to failure. There are so many other successful photographers out there that why would anyone settle for someone who’s just last in line in the pack? I felt like that last person trailing behind waiting to collect the scraps that no one wanted. So I stopped altogether. I didn’t want my feelings to ruin this perfect dream of mine.
Seasons passed and my life had lots of color in it again. Heartache was something I no longer experienced and I had every reason to celebrate. I had found the person my heart was aching for. I was having happy dreams and everything felt like it was rising up from a very cold winter. Abby the creative, fun-loving and sometimes crazy person was back. I remember those days of dating my husband as the best days of our lives. Whether it was the walks around the beach or the fifteen minute rides in the train on the way home from my then day-job. I was in a deep lala-land with this man. Photography once again peeked my interest but not enough to stick. I wasn’t ready to share myself with everyone again. I wanted to keep enjoying all my time with him and the life we were creating. We planned our small wedding and an epic adventure. My husband wanted to “gift” me the vacation of my dreams. If you knew anything about me, Australia had been the one place I was always talking about visiting. And so we took off for a month to the land down under. The honeymoon of our dreams. So many adventures. Good days and bad alike, we wouldn’t trade that time we explored for anything in this world. Even if my husband will probably trade all the driving he did cross-country for a relaxing day at the beach.. I still believe that watching him take me to the desert because he knew it was on the top of my list makes my love and appreciation for him grow fonder. The following picture was taken by another couple who was also honeymooning in the Blue Mountains, NSW.
