{About Me}

UPDATED: 1-10-10

I can’t even do an update to my “read all about me” section on time :)  I wanted to update every 6 months from the start of my blog (June)….ummmm….that means I should have updated it on December 17th, ha!

Here we go!

Well, since starting my blog in June my business has been moving along at an unbelievable speed.  I don’t know why God decided to bless me so much…but I’ll take what I can get and (as my mother says) thank God for it every day :)  Since June, I’ve done about 200 shoots and I’ve learned SOOOOO Much from every single one.   I’ve decided to do a top 20 (I can’t keep it to 10) fun facts I’ve learned about being the photography business.   In no order whatsoever.

Drum Roll……..

1. Relax & enjoy it!
2. You can never take too many pictures
3. My time & talent is worth it.   Some people won’t value your time, but the clients that do value it make up for the ones that don’t.
4. Always be thinking.  Creatively  and businesswise
5. You never know if an idea will take off unless you try it out.  It very well could fail miserably…but you never know until you try.
6. Photographers steal ideas from other photographers.  Move along, come up with a new idea (that they will probably steal again) and enjoy the moment.  Imitation is the best form of flattery.
7. I don’t want to be the photographer that shoots the same shot over and over again and the only thing that changes is the subject.  BUT I will do a shot that I’ve previously done or seen if that’s what the client requests.
8. I need to be better about putting my foot down.
9. Babies will always turn me to complete mush
10. It’s a competitive field.
11. I love my clients
12. GOOD LIGHTING is an absolute must!  A shot will go down hill super fast without it.
13. Just when I think my family can’t possibly get any better…they do.  They never cease to amaze me.    So genuine, so selfless, so beautiful, SO FUN!
14. “Work” doesn’t feel like work and that’s fantastic!!!
15. Keep it simple
16. For every 100 picture you take…you’ll actually keep & edit 20…or less.
17. I’m awesome at bribing!
18. I need to become an expert swaddler.  I’m good at it, I just need to become a pro at it.
19. I’m now 100% sure that kids are the funniest people ever.
20. Research, research, research….play, play, play

And there you  have it!

Now for an update on my family life.  BABIES!!!!!  I now officially have 3 nephews and 3 nieces.  I also have 4 new nieces or nephews on the way!!!   SO SO SO excited :)  Here is the run down of prego gang:

Andy & Autumn- Baby Early is due mid March

Amanda & Todd-  Bobzien BABIES (that’s right, twins!) are due mid May.  We also know that they are having a boy (Colton) & a girl (Carolina) and we know that they will be adorable :)

Sara & Ryan- Baby Sedlak is due mid May as well.

This means that the Early Family is going to be crazy busy this Spring & Summer!  WOO HOOOO!!!!  Other than babies, everything else is pretty much it’s wonderful self.

There you have it!  Life is pretty darn fantastic and I’m pretty darn happy  :-)

Thank you for catching up with me and thank you for supporting me.  It means more than you’ll ever know

June 17th, 2009 (first blog post)

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I’m a Photographer & Designer from the St. Louis area. I’m starting this blog as a way to showcase my photography and as a way for clients to get to know me. I’ll give you the basics about me, but I think diving right in would be the best way to get to know me and my photography. I grew up in the small town of Kirksville, Missouri. I come from a big catholic family of 7 girls & 1 boy, but we have since grown quite a bit. We now have 3 brother-in-laws (another one will marry in this Saturday), 1 sister-in-law, 2 nephews, 3 nieces and 1 nephew due in early August. My parents really & truly are the most amazing parents that anyone could ask for. Just ask anyone who has ever had the pleasure of knowing them :) I adore my nieces & nephews and I like to think I’m their favorite aunt (which I totally am). I could go on and on about my family and you will soon learn that my family is who I am, they consume my life, they’re my best friends and they’re my everything. I live for the simple moments in life and I believe in investing in the things that really matter in the grand scheme of it all. Now for my technical background…My degree is in Interior Design and I graduated from Maryville University. I’ve worked in residential, commercial & corporate design. The past couple of years have made me realize that I’m really not cut out to do just design, I can’t sit behind a desk all day and I’m not one of those people that requires a day to day schedule. I always have a million ideas running through my head at one time and 50 projects/experiments going on at the same time. I love being creative and surprising people with new ideas. I have a shop on a website called Etsy and while I worked in the corporate world I would use my Etsy shop as my creative outlet. I was always annoyed that I couldn’t put more time towards my Etsy stuff, towards what I really loved and what really made me happy. Back in April this little blessing in disguise came along and we’ll just say that I no longer work in the corporate world and I couldn’t be happier. I wasn’t happy at my job, but I did love the people I worked with and I miss seeing them everyday. Lucky for me we still keep in touch, we still do lunch and we still do happy hour. I think the reason God put me in the corporate world (which I swore I would never do) was to push me into what I really wanted and to meet the people I met.

So, I’m moving full steam ahead with my creativity as my career and I hope you enjoy getting to know me…and I hope you hire me :)