I am feeling rather contemplative this morning and wanted to share what I have been thinking about. I recently had the pleasure of doing a workshop with a group of wonderful photographers, and as I see the images shared, that are wowing me and inspiring me and making me FEEL, I am saddened to hear over and over again that these amazing photographer don’t appreciate their gift.

Not really.

Not fully.

And that makes me sad.

And it makes me sad for me too. Because I too am guilty of not appreciating my own talents. And that needs to change.

We all might need to change.

Hopefully, all of us, whether we are photographers or not, have a passion for something. Something that moves us, drives us, makes us want to be better. I have that passion for photography and for being a mother. And because of that passion, I strive to be better. Sometimes, I see my flaws, more than I see my gift. Sometimes, I see what I did wrong, instead of seeing what I did right. And sometimes, I get it.: I see my gift, my talent, my abilities. And THAT, that ability to see where I am now, and appreciate where I am NOW, is a quality that I need.

It’s a quality we all need.

If you can’t appreciate the NOW, where you are RIGHT THIS SECOND, then, in my opinion, you are doing yourself a disservice. You are doing the ones you love a disservice. You are doing a disservice to your fans, to your children, to your parents, to God. Such a simple thing we all need to do: love ourselves.  How sad would you be if you were to discover that your children didn’t love themselves and didn’t appreciate their talents?  Personally, I would be devastated.

I don’t want to be all Stuart Smalley with “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggonit, people like me!” cuz that’s a little too cheeseball for me. But, I do want to recognize and appreciate my journey. Maybe I’m not where I want to be, and truly, I think I will never be where I want to be. When you have passion for something, you’re never where you want to be. And that’s okay.

But embrace your journey. Embrace yourself.  Don’t waste your gift.

I just found this quote, and I totally dig it:

Envy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our

own uniqueness and self worth.

Each of us has something to give that no one else has.

~Elizabeth O-Connor

So, because I love you and because I can’t stand thinking of all these artists being so down on your work, I ask you to take a moment and appreciate where you are right now.  And smile and hold your head high.

Because you’ve come a long way, baby.

And hey, if you like my images, you should maybe go on over and like my Facebook page. I end up putting pics on there more often than I do on here. …

So, last week, I said I was featuring Cari Berry Photography this week, but I gots a little bit cornfused… THIS week belongs to Kari Wright!  LOVE her work!  I am so happy to share with you Modern Heartworks by Kari Wright from Smithton, MO !  Check out this lovely image! You can see more of her gorgeous work on her WEBSITE, BLOG, and on FACEBOOK.…

I am blessed. Very very very very blessed. I have a wonderful family, wonderful children, a loving husband, and a passion for photography that brings me a lot of joy. And I just got even more blessed by being the recipient of an incredibly generous gift.

My mom’s friend recently saw a blog post about my mom. If you missed it, you can read it HERE. Well, he liked what he saw and thought I had a good eye and ability to capture true emotion.  SUCH a compliment and something I definitely strive for in my images.  Well, this guy liked it so much, he decided to give me his studio lights that he no longer uses.  He gave me 3 alien bees (those are lights), 3 light stands, a case to carry all the lights, a backdrop stand, triggers, lots of backdrops, and a new belief in the kindness and generosity of mankind.  I was floored, honored, and a bit scared that I wouldn’t be able to do anything very special with these lights.

I have been a natural light girl.  Only.  I didn’t even own a flash until very recently and still need to tackle how to use that thing.  What was a natural light photographer going to do with studio lights?

Well, I certainly didn’t want to disappoint the guy by not putting the lights to work, so I got started.

And here we have it.  My first image.  And can you believe it?  It’s my OPUS.

Bwahahahhaaaaaaaaa!!!!  Get it?  My Opus?  Teeeee heeeeee heeeee…..  There’s problems with this picture, for sure.  The first one being that my shutter speed was too high and I didn’t even expose the bottom half of the image, hence the loss of Opus’ feet.  But, I still love it.  Cuz it’s my first picture.

And then, later in that session, I got this of my husband.  My hunkahunka husband. 

This was gonna be fun.

Next try, I got close to what I wanted, but not exactly.  Note to self: black stool on black background makes child float.

So, I tried again.  BINGO!

And, so the journey has begun.  I still have a lot to learn, but I am determined to make my friend’s mom proud.

I am determined to not waste the gift.

None of us should waste the gift.  Whatever that gift may be.

And if I can not waste the gift at the same time that I have some fun, then hey, I’m doing something right.

…