Here’s to amazing clients who get engaged in New York City, have their engagement session in Los Angeles, and tie the knot in Atlanta. Who doesn’t want to tag along for awhile with this couple? I got to spend Valentine’s Day with Aimee and John and play around all over this city - which was fantastic. Congratulations to you both - I will always treasure this time I got to spend with you, and I can’t wait for your wedding day!
And here’s to the sunset in Malibu…
So here I am living the good life in Los Angeles. We have this wonderful place right on the beach in a fantastic community. The weather is incredible. (As I write this, it is currently 68 degrees and rising, while SNOWING and slushy in my hometown)! I am finally living on the same side of the country as my husband again. This city is a photographer’s dream come true. And yet, I find myself racked with homesickness.
For every beautiful moment here, I keep missing something I love back home. How do I start embracing this new life? I tried to just throw myself into everything I could find immediately, but being busy isn’t really the same as quality time is it? No matter how that time is spent.
I was very fortunate to quickly find a church I love, and join a small group. Through a crazy small world circumstance, I made a friend in my community who is one of my client’s best friends from college. I also had a couple of good solid friendships I knew I wanted to really invest in before I ever even got here permanently, so I definitely have that to be grateful for.
But how to meet people? This was my biggest hurdle. Last week, I found I was almost drowning in this feeling of loneliness - I just felt so adrift and without direction. Okay, maybe I’m still struggling with that…but the point is that last week, this became a catalyst for me to go out and do something about it! I needed to get out of my edit-and-album-design-at-home-alone mode, and go have some fun! Make some friends in my industry! (This being another thing I really miss about Birmingham). I was invited to a lunch with Heather, Regis, Victor and others - which was super fun - but I definitely felt like I was the girl going “let’s hang out just a LITTLE bit longer..”. I’m already bribing them to hang out with me again!
So, also last week, I saw a link on twitter to a photography shootout. Having no clue what this was, clearly my next thought was, “I should totally sign up!”…because that’s completely logical I’m sure. I think I just wanted to do anything and everything to meet new people! So, I sign up for this seemingly random event, and yesterday I headed up to Pasadena for the entire day. And it was awesome!
I can’t believe all the time and effort that went into making the day possible. Basically, I was put in a group with about 10 other photographers, and we just shot all day. But it was so much more than that to me. I met people. I made friends. I enjoyed myself. I got to play and have a good time, and for just a little while, I wasn’t homesick…
A huge thank you to Hanssie and Matt for putting the day together, and to the amazing Mary Lallande and Amanda Auer for really making it what it was!
I’ll definitely be posting about the day, my new friends, and some cool behind the scenes images of what exactly a shootout is! If you have a chance to go to one, you should. I’m so thankful I got to have a fun and new experience with such great people. My group rocked by the way - the best…without a doubt. I’ll also post some images from the day…very different than anything I’m used to. It was great to shoot with other photographers and be challenged. I can’t wait to get my film back and share some of the images! For now, I’m just posting a couple digital scenes I grabbed along the way.
Here’s to a great weekend! Hoping I can live in the moment and to the fullest - no matter where I am..
I was a blessed child. I grew up in a loving home, in a beautiful neighborhood, with a close-knit family. Southern roots ran deep.
I had the great privilege to grow up with three of my grandparents living. I never really understood how precious this was until I lost my Grandfather when I was 20 years old. January 19th of that year kicked off one of the hardest years of my life. He was the first person I was very close to that passed away. Unfortunately, the year brought tragedy after tragedy, and I came to know death well.
I was left with two incredible grandmothers. Strong southern women who were as different as they come but inspirational beyond imagination. During my engagement to my husband, I again realized the blessing of generational relationships - he had lost ALL of his grandparents before he was ever born. Also, during our engagement, my Paternal Grandmother passed away. The circle of life was all around me, and I marveled at my Lord’s sovereignty. My Maternal Grandmother made the trek over from Charleston, South Carolina to Birmingham, Alabama to be at my wedding. She was 92 years old and frail, and she loved us, and I was honored that she came, and it was one of the highlights of my wedding day. She was there for the ceremony alone. Our only grandparent. It meant the world to me.
Fast forward a few years. My Grandma Josie was now the only surviving member of a generation I revered and loved with all my heart. I started asking more and more questions; I wanted to hear all of her stories. I wanted her memories to live on with me. I wanted her to live on in me. I spent more and more time in Charleston with my Mother. Eventually, Grandma Josie moved out of her house. Things were changing and it was heartbreaking. I didn’t have the fortune of growing up in the same city she lived in - this was the city of my Mother’s childhood, not mine. But it was a city that held my heart, and the magic was diminishing. It seemed cloudier, darker, and started to become a glimmer of what it once was to me.
December 5, 2009 - I move to Los Angeles. December 10, 2009 - I take a red-eye flight to Charleston. I helplessly watch a woman I love start to wither away. I watch a woman by her side walk through utter despair as she sits beside her Mother and prays with her. I cry. Here before me are two women who I long to be like, yearn to support and care for and comfort, want to make proud - and I can do nothing. I spend time with my cousins. I look to my Aunt and Uncle for the ways to love my family as we walk through this together. I’m devastated. Life was rapidly marching forth, and I felt alone and adrift and angry.
December 24, 2009. Christmas Eve. My Grandma Josie passes away. It wasn’t a peaceful death. My heart breaks. For me, for my Mother, for my family.
Her funeral was on December 27th. I drove back out to California on January 1, 2010. The state comes with me - our team is headed to the National Championship in Pasadena. We move into a new place on the beach. I don’t have time to think. Everyone goes home. I work hard, learn to live with my husband again, and start to reach out to my new community. I fly back East for four jobs, come back to California again. Start going to a church. Join a small group. Pray for friends. Start focusing on where my business is headed. I avoid the emotional tides under the surface.
My talks with my Mother are to check in, let her know I love her and am praying for her, let her know I haven’t forgotten what she’s going through. I finally start acknowledging what I’m going through. Last week, I realize there is a specific phrase resonating with me, and I’m repeating it in my mind. Something my Uncle Charles said at her funeral - “the quiet strength of a Melanie”…
To paraphrase, as he talked about my Grandmother’s life, he mentioned Gone With The Wind; “Why is it such a masterpiece? Why do we watch this movie countless times? What draws people in to the story? It isn’t the antics of Scarlett…it is the quiet strength of Melanie. I submit to you that this woman was a Melanie. A dignified woman with strength and grace and peace…”
There are so many things I want to share about my Grandmother, but I don’t know how yet. Every time I write on this blog, I feel like a liar denying the things that are going on behind the scenes. So I may as well start with the basics of my heart…
My Grandma Josie passed away on Christmas Eve, her wedding anniversary. She and my Grandfather were married for 69 years at the time of his death. They were the greatest love story I’ve ever heard. I intend to share their story someday when I’m emotionally ready to do so. They were the epitome of what a marriage could be, and my Grandmother is the greatest inspiration I’ve known. She is the woman I want to be.
I often find myself wrapped up in the daily antics of a Scarlett. I live in a world of ambition, selfishness, self-centeredness, and social over-stimulation. I can be silly, loud, and quick to speak. And although there are aspects of my personality that definitely make me who I am - there are others that I find myself convicted of. Are my antics biblical? Not in the least. Is this who I was made to be? I know that it is not. I was made to be less like Scarlett, and more like Melanie. And that is my prayer, that I too would have the quiet strength of a Melanie…
I cannot WAIT to share the images from Ashley and Owen’s incredible wedding. For the meantime, I’ve been culling down through their digital images - and I have been just blown away by the intimacy in our night series…
So, this wedding was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m so excited to share it on the blog! Check back soon for a full post once I have the film images. These two amaze me in so many ways - and it was an honor to photograph their wedding day!
Okay, so I shot the vast majority of this session on film, which I’m still waiting to get back - but in the meantime, I intend to make Erin happy and give her something of a sneak peek on the blog! What does that mean? You will see this session posted roughly three times on this blog! Which is fantastic, because how can you NOT just love these two, and also, this will force me to blog more…
I’ll give all the behind the scenes details and location and image information in the next post - so definitely check back for that. Erin and Adam are a delight! We had a great time, and really explored some interesting ideas together. Most of all, I just had a great time with them! Can you tell?
One from probably my favorite series of the entire day:
I find this series pretty and interesting…it just feels raw…
LOVE this one..
