Finding Myself

There's a myth out there (at least here in the midwest & in the south where I grew up). It goes like this...

-One graduates from high school and goes to college

Said person then spends the next four years finding themselves and discovering who they really are. what they stand for. what makes them laugh, cry, angry, calm. what they're really good at and what they're not so good at

One then graduates from college and immediately goes into their career and life fully enlightened, educated and ready to take on the world.

This, my friends, is a myth. At least I think so.

Reality goes something more like this -

-One graduates from high school thinking they know everything...

Then goes on to college where they spend 5 years playing a role of half kid/half adult - and discovering more about their tolerance for a lack of sleep (among other things we won't talk about) than their inner selves. inner self? huh?

One then graduates from college only to feel like they've been dumped into a tornado with no basement in sight...

then, over the course of the next 10 to 15 years, slowly, this person is being built into who they are. they don't realize it. 'til one day - a few short months before their 35th birthday - they realize that they are becoming very aware of who they really are.

"Said person" would be me. I'm betting it's you too.

So what {WHAT} does this have to do with photography?

15 years ago, I would never have dreamed that I'd be here right now. There's so many things that makes each of us who we are. But I'm gonna focus on career for now.

After stumbling into photography as a career, I've spent years photographing just about anything portrait related. What I've discovered is that my creativity, patience, love is with the little guys. 10{ish} and younger ... that's my thing.

And my real real deal "thing" is the newborns. I went through a stint where I really thought I wanted to be a L&D nurse. But the reality is, I don't have the brain for the science and I don't have the stomach for the delivery part of the L&D. But I have the patience to sit and hold them 'til they relax and squish into that perfect shot. I love spending hours with a fresh baby. Love capturing the things that make them newborns ... the baby rolls, poofy lips as they practice their sucking reflex in their sleep, curled tiny perfect toes, little fingers with deep crinkles ...

now, if I could just figure out how to bottle that newborn smell...

Meet baby "S" ... with her toes and rolls and lips and yawns and wrinkles and newborn smell

(you'll just have to imagine the last part)