+ today. +
+ october re-cap +
October was killer. November will be a different kind of killer. A much better one.
Excited for the death of the former and the arrival of the latter.
However, I’m not going to talk about why October sucked. Paige Baker knows all these reasons, and I am excited as hell for a phenomenal month to make up for it. Instead, I’m going to recap some of October’s best moments. And damn. I just realized there are a lot.
– – –
[ colin + andrea’s engagement shoot ]
– – –
Best quotations:
A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood. The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others. – Leo Rosten
The praise of the unlettered by those who are highly educated is one of the primary themes of ‘elitist’ literature. But, the importance of the praise given the unsolitary, richly passionate life is that it simultaneously reflects the value of reflective life. – Richard Rodriguez, The Achievement of Desire
Because education seeks to impart past knowledge, when you are trying to create a breakthrough, you have to create new knowledge, and there is no way to teach that. – Peter Thiel
What must you face? What fears haunt you? What failures have marked you? What darkness has consumed you and stolen from you, robbed you, sucked out of your soul the dream God created you to flesh out? Maybe there’s a dream buried deep inside your soul and God is waiting to reconstruct it, to put the bones back together. If he commands you to act and you trust him, you will see all of creation move in concert to accomplish in you what you were created to do. – Katie Holley-ish
We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing. – Mother Teresa
– – –
You are a brand. Treat yourself as such. Ground your product, visualize your identity, network your life. Be open to growth.
Your world is what you make it, so make it a world in which you want to live.
Stress is a decision. Decide to not be stressed, because you cannot change what is, and you cannot create time.
We cannot feel what is real when we are asleep.
Withhold your truth until you can speak it in love, lest you embitter what is sweet.
I will never apologize for knowing what I want and what I don’t.
Don’t ever compare yourself to someone else. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.
Never let someone else’s perception of you keep you from living fully and joyfully. Love always.
Grace is not logical, rational, or fair. And that is why it fixes problems that you cannot.
What incredible people we would be if we talked to God as much as we talked about him.
– – –
Best things on the Internet:
Visual mapping of emotions, via WeFeelFine
Finger-painting with Sound, via YouTube
Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex, via OkCupid
Love Bomb Update, via yours truly
“The Initiated Woman” via Danielle LaPorte
“You just broke your child.” A must read. Via Single Dad Laughing
Stats say social media is increasing face-to-face time, via Mashable
“Brainwash“, via Seth Godin
TeuxDeux browser + iPhone app to-do list, via TeuxDeux. Changed my life.
– – –
let your fists come undone.
Miscarried love will be reborn.
The war that we’re fighting has already been won.
+ nirrimi + crave +
It’s not very often that I fall in love with an entire photoset. One or two that catch my eye or pull on my heart, yes. But Nirrimi tends to be different. This week has been a week for growing up by growing down. Pushing my emotions further and not allowing myself to say, “I don’t know why _____.” Anyway, Nirrimi caught and trapped my emotions in this set and I wanted to share.
A reminder to shoot truth and not perfection. I am still so far from where I wish I was.
i crave all these things from my past. icy water slipping over uncertain toes molding to the pebbles on the creek floor. sitting and trying to see as far into the woods as i can. mashing slate and painting faces. making dishes from mud and circling my kitchen cave with them. falling. being hurt. watching bits of green push up from the dirt. hiding snakes from mom. keeping baby mice alive. stripping in a hot bath tub. clover bracelets. pressing flowers. pulling weeds. catching fish with bare hands. making homemade bread. tulips as big as my face. country bike rides. falling asleep by the fireplace. bleaching socks. sledding and frostbite. the sun setting on the city. mountains. deserts. being small.
+ learning, growing, healing, joy, engagement photos. +
what i learned this weekend:
– vintage schwinn bikes have incredibly small posts
– routine relieves stress
– god takes $80 expenses down to $5 when you ask
– god hasn’t forgotten what happened to you when you were 8 years old
– i’m way more of a southern belle than i thought
– the holy spirit moves when we do
– there is ALWAYS someone going thru what we are, & god brings them to us when we ask
– there is power quite literally in the name of jesus. speak it more.
– god can use death cab to remind us of his presence in the present AND the past
– i am crazy different, and that’s okay.
– when you are real, you are present. learn to be real. (thank you, christen)
– we don’t always have to understand our brokenness before god can heal it
– joy is a shield.
– wherever it is that you are, god brought you there. not yourself or someone else.
i took photos for stiffler and caitlyn’s engagement yesterday, and they are adorable. sneak peeeeek. Also, if you live in Columbus, I am hosting a $15-20 Portrait Day In The Park at Goodale! Invite your friends, and come if you’d like!
but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit —
fruit that will last.
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
This is my command: Love each other.”
John 15:16-17
+ so overwhelmed. and photos of aubrie. +
Oh. My. Gosh. I do not know what happened this week. I guess all of this was just building and finally exploded today. Way short on money and I’m pretty sure half the people I know are irritated with me being MIA. I really don’t understand how the rest of you all keep up. How do you keep all your bills paid? How do you remember to take your vitamins? How do you answer the emails you get and follow through with every person you tell you’ll hang out with them? How do you organize the massive piles of mail that come in, and figure out what bills take priority? Etc etc etc.
All I know right now is that I suddenly need exponentially more time, and more money. Just to figure out the nightmare that is my bank account. Bank accounts. Bleh.
Time to work more, and book more shoots. Speaking of, any of you all want some pictures taken? Doing them cheap! Requirement: Be in Columbus. Hah.
I took Aubrie’s senior photos this past weekend. I really love how they turned out. It obviously helps that she’s adorable and has a beautiful smile and incredible blue eyes.
So yeah. How do you guys do it? How do you stay organized? What do you do when people flip out because you don’t have enough time to do everything? Help.
Beneath the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal
And all the while my character it steals
And you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine
+ happy birthday, lydia! part one. +
I originally wasn’t going to post these, because they were taken late evening and came out very noisy…my camera doesn’t handle high ISO very well. 🙁
But, Paige told me to blog them anyways, so here I am and here they are.
Lydia’s birthday was this past weekend and we went to a crazy outdoor play at the park in German Village. Wine, cheese, and my pretty girls.
Happy birthday, darling. You mean the world to me. You are so pretty. <3 I love summer.
taking her by the arms;
but she did not realize it was I who healed her.
I led her with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love;
I lifted the yoke from her neck
and bent down to feed her.
Hosea 11:3-4 }
+ jessica. +
+ heidi and josiah +
This past week I did a shoot of Heidi & her little man, Josiah. The entire stream is here, but these are my favorites.
I’ve been inspired lately to shoot more candids, and to break more rules than normal. It’s paying off.
I also am finding myself wanting to blog more than I typically do. I’ve been having approximately two major revelations per day and I feel obligated to share them. Growing up does this to us. As does Jesus.
beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity
in the hearts of men;
yet they cannot fathom
what God has done
from beginning to end.}
+ photos from washington state, & thoughts on grief +
This has been a week for wrestling with new things, and very old things. The old grief, the new self-doubt, and new eyes. Grief is a strange thing. There is no feeling like it. It is debilitating and consistent only in it’s inconsistency in appearing. It scares me that visually, grief sits at the base of my heart and joy is at the top. It permeates a level that joy has not yet touched. I realized I’ve sought healing in addition to grief, instead of in it’s place. More on grief here.
Oh the mysteries of the heart.
P.S. I miss the Pacific Northwest and it’s rawness. The “closer to God” effect. I found the photos above from Deception Pass, Washington when organizing my library and am excited to go back again this year..
+ ice cream! +
It’s about time I dedicate a post to Jeni’s. Unfortunately, this little gourmet ice cream shop is only a couple blocks down from me, so I visit way too often. Today, I had to shoot around for a school photo assignment and decided to throw some up for you all to see!
I’ve been slowing down a lot lately, and trying to do more things that I genuinely love to do, and I’m already feeling much better. Hooray. 🙂
