I’ve learned, as I’m sure you have, too, that life is all about stages. First, you’re learning to walk, talk, crawl, and do all of those exciting little things. Then you move onto the different stages of school, then college, marriage (sometimes), kids, etc. Each phase has its own unique challenges, and its own unique joys as well.
Right now, Nathan and I are in the young-and-married-with-no-kids phase. We both have jobs which we are really thankful for, and on top of that, we are dreaming big with my photography work and his band. They’re not only fun hobbies, but long term goals to strive after and achieve. Both give us something to do on the weekends, and a ton of satisfaction.
The other night, I was thinking about how blessed we are to be able to pursue hobbies while working and earning a living where all our needs are met. And as they often do, my thoughts drifted towards the future to when (Lord-willing) we do have kids, and what we will say about this time in our lives.
Neither of us knows what the future will hold. If you’d asked me 5 years ago where I’d be today, I would not have given you the right answer. So 5 years from now…who knows? What I do know is this: we’re running after our dreams and not looking back. Whatever that means, we will have to find out. But more important than going on a 2 week long tour, or booking xxx weddings in a year, or whatever other successes we do or don’t see, we’ll say we tried.
We’ll say that we stayed up late and got up early to do what we love. We’ll say that we spent our free weekends practicing our craft so we could be the best that we are able. We’ll say that even when we got discouraged or tired, we kept pressing on because life is so much bigger and bolder than we could have imagined.
And at the end of the day, that’s what gives us joy. Not that we’ll be able to list our accomplishments in 5 years, or talk about all the failures. No, what gives us joy will always be knowing that, succeed or not, we tried. And we tried hard.
Happy Sunday everyone!
We'll Say We Tried // Spady Sunday
Fox Hole Kingdom Press Photos // Hampton Roads Photographer
Something I've learned over the past few years is how important it is to take time to do things for yourself. For me, that's much easier said than done. I think a lot of you can relate. Every time I sit down to do nothing I end up thinking of something else to do. Running a small business is a never ending project, and there is ALWAYS something I could do instead of resting. So I have a long ways to go on learning how to just stop and be for a little while.
One thing that has become important to me is personal projects. Whether that's working on something around the house other than cleaning (I've got a little project in the works now!) or taking pictures of something outside of my comfort zone, these are things that stretch me both creatively and personally. If I didn't take a break from the normal every once in awhile, I know I would get stuck in a rut. This definitely applies to my photography!
Even though I haven't been in business too long, I know that it can become easy to start going through the motions and doing the same thing that you did before. You KNOW you can do something well, so why not just do it like you did last time? However, this is not how I will ever become better or serve my clients as well as I should. For that reason, I try to do things that expand my horizon of creativity.
In the past year, that has involved taking cover shots & press photos for the band Fox Hole Kingdom. I do take pictures at all their events I can make it to, but what has really pushed me outside of the box I can find myself in is taking posed shots, trying new editing and lighting techniques, and working with a larger group of people than just a guy and a girl. Honestly, this is so enjoyable to me. I really have to think through each picture and how each individual person looks. I have to put a LOT of thought into every pose, and my editing techniques are drastically different with band photos than with an engagement session.
I thought I'd share some of these today! I always have to keep these under wraps until FHK releases them first, and now I can finally share! Side note - check these guys out. They're awesome! Right now they're on a mini tour and I'm so excited to see where their music takes them.
One of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken! The light was just amazing
