A Graduation | Personal

Woah. This past weekend was insane. I’m still trying to process everything! This past weekend I graduated high school! YAY!

I don’t normally talk about my age on my blog but I am so excited I just had to share with you guys! I am officially no longer a high school business owner, but a college business owner & entrepreneur!

I’m so thankful that I got to spend this weekend with those dearest to my heart, surrounded by all of my family and friends. Thank you so much for cheering me along and supporting me through all of the years! I couldn’t have done it without God as my support and backbone, and without my parents with me through every step of the way.

Thank you all for supporting me through this crazy photography dream of mine. Now to just continue making my dream of being a full-time professional wedding & portrait photographer a reality! I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for me.

So, now on to a few iPhone pictures from the day! We totally got so caught up we forgot to get pictures together that weren’t on our iPhones! Maybe I’ll just have to get my family to dawn on their spiffy graduation attire and wear my gown one more time for some pictures!

Enjoy looking through my graduation pictures!

Letting Go | Personal

Photography. It’s my love, my passion, my art, and my business all wrapped up in one. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. It’s competitive. It’s not as easy as one might think. But you know what? I still love it and continue to pursue it every day.

Photography is an art, but also a trade. With that comes the fact that you are documenting people’s lives for them to look back on for years to come. Some will love the way you document it, and love YOU, as an artist. At the same time though, some won’t.

In this industry, some of us try to embrace one another and just love all other photographers too. You know what I’m talking about, right? The whole let’s-sing-kumbaya-and-network-and-love-each-other-and-say-how-great-we-are photographers. But at the same time, there are also the photographers that don’t want to include “newbys” into this industry. Those that like to critique other photographers and send them e-mails tearing them down and critiquing their art to a place where they feel worthless.

When I began the journey with this art nearly 4 years ago I didn’t have a clue what I was embarking on. I didn’t know that I would want this to be my career, or that I would even consider it more that a creative hobby. I wish I could warn that girl who picked up a camera and fell in love with photography what this industry can sometimes be like. That blogging would be hard for her because she would receive anonymous emails critiquing her work. That she would sometimes have clients who don’t love the pictures she spent 10+ hours editing. That this is a tough job, but you’ll still love every day of it.

I’m sure at this point if you’re still with me in reading this, you’re wondering, “What’s the point of this post? Just to rant about this industry and make people feel sorry for this girl?” The point of this is that I have finally come to realize a few things in my photography journey. As long as I’m happy with my photography, I’m doing everything that I can to make my clients happy, and I’m doing it to glorify God just like I should with every aspect of my life, that it doesn’t matter what the naysayers do or say against me. I’m at a completely different place in my photography than them, and I’m happy with where I am! I can’t compare my beginning in this industry to someone else’s 8 years of experience. I may not blog every day, I may not have the same style as other photographers, bur that is okay!

From this  day on, I’m going to continue in this industry as a photographer that builds people up, not tear them down. That encourages other photographers whether they are entering into their 6th wedding season or are just picking up a DSLR for the first time. I’m also not going to be afraid to blog, just because I’m worried about what another photographer will think! As long as I’m putting forth my best and striving to please my clients, that’s all that matters, right?

So, who’s with me in building one another up, rather than tearing each other down?

The Riggleman Family | Families | Midlothian, Virginia Family Photographer

Meet the sweet Riggleman Family! Jenelle, Blake, and their absolutely adorable son, Shiloh! I had the honor of getting to shoot their family session recently, and I had such a wonderful time getting to know them! The Rigglemans recently started coming to the same church as us (shameless plug for Village Church at Midlothian, woot woot!), after moving here this past year. I loved getting to work with them, and isn’t Mr. Shiloh the best dressed little boy ever?

While it may have been a super chilly winter day when we had their session, they still worked with the cold and we managed to get some amazing portraits out of it!

Here’s a few of my favorites! I hope you enjoy looking through them!