I photographed a baby shower for a friend the other day, and it was truly a great time! You may remember the sneak peek… Anyways, I always love celebrating life, but it was even more exciting to reconnect with friends and church family that I used to see every Sunday and (and some Tuesdays and Thursdays). Sometimes our journeys send us down different paths, but it is always exciting when we come back together! Enjoy select images below.
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a friend’s baby shower. Here is a sneak peek of the photos.
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I think the first friend I ever really recall having was Melanie. Our mothers both sang in the choir, so we’d be there under some pews in choir rehearsal trying to stay out of trouble. On Sundays, we’d be sitting on the pews running our mouths trying to stay out of trouble during church. On the weekends, we’d be at one or the other’s house playing with our Barbies and trying to stay out of trouble. At some point, her mom got assigned to Minot, ND, but we continued to stay in touch. Then my dad got stationed at Grand Forks, ND, and Mel and I were reunited. After we moved back to Texas, Mel started making yearly visits to Texas and every time we saw each other, it was as if we never missed a bit. Well, I don’t think I’d seen her since 2000 or so, and this past September, God allowed our paths to cross as she had a lay over between Japan and Germany in Baltimore. It was as if we never skipped a beat!
Even though I have not technically lived in Texas for over 10 years, I still feel so deeply connected to that state. Perhaps its because I love the weather there and have never fully adjusted to the “cold!” Or maybe it’s because I have such an affinity for real Tex-Mex, and have not been able to find anything that compares outside of the TX border (I can never get enough bean and cheese tacos – please do not knock it until you try it). Maybe it’s because being there is so nostalgic and being up north gives me scenes of urban city centers with bricks and concrete and row homes. I am not sure, but I always love my trips back home! On my last trip, I ate some of my favorite food, spent time with some of favorite people, saw old friends, played games with new ones, and just enjoyed my time off!
A couple of weeks ago, I photographed a friend from Delaware, and I have been so blessed to be able to capture her daughter’s growth through the lens of my camera. See the throwbacks below.
In this last session, instead of doing an outdoor shoot, we decided to photograph inside, and during this session, I really saw why her mama calls her “Mini-Me!” Not only do they bear similar features, but she takes after her mother in mannerisms and style! See select images below.
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing a friend in a beautiful Pennsylvania wedding that went from the chapel to the park to the TD Bank to the Reception Hall. You may remember this couple from my engagement portrait post, called “Ready for Service.” Anyway, see a sneak peek of their wedding photos below. Besides the jumping the broom shots, some of my favorite images were of the groom and his best men swatting gnats and the ATM image. Again see images below… and… if you see something you like, please leave a comment at the bottom!
It seems as though lately I am always doing work of some sort. Whether I am working in the classroom, working on lesson plans to get ready for the classroom, working on classwork for my professors, working on a web project, or just working on photos, there is always something to be done. I did not even mention the other important administrative tasks, like taxes, billing, etc. (If you were wondering, I am not complaining, just observing)… Anyway, last weekend, I had an opportunity to take a day off and hang with the ladies (those people with the XX combination). Anyway, our posse included a fellow photographer – Syreena B – an up-and-coming physician, my mom, and the other ladies’ mom, as well Syreena’s baby boy. This gathering had all of the makings of a good time: great food, stimulating conversation, the swapping of ideas and tricks, chocolate, and window shopping.
We started at the National Harbor in Fort Washington, MD. Though it was not optimal shooting weather (it was extremely sunny), we managed to get some good photos in! Kudos to Syreena, who worked her magic using my Nikon (even though she is a Canon lady). She took all of the photos of me that I have included in this post! She even told me about a few new tools that I used to edit/stylize these images.
So I came to some conclusions after our outing. #1 – We really need to prioritize spending time with people in our lives. It is easy to be “busy” all of the time, but ultimately, you will make time to do what you want to do. Make sure that in all your doing, you make time for people because there is something special that happens when people connect. #2 – I also learned a thing about being a professional. In the classroom, I regularly see collaboration sans competition. But as I look back over my work history from the law firm to the accounting firm, it was all about competition. You competed with so-and-so to get the job. Then you compete for the promotion or the recognition. As a competitive person, I know that competition has its place, but just because two people work in the same field does not make them enemies. Syreena and I spoke for hours about our businesses and our business models and the lessons we learned over the past year, and I gleaned so much from that conversation. By the time we parted, I had a new found respect for her as the great mother/entrepreneur/designer/wife/daughter/friend that she is. So I encourage you all to prioritize people and save the competition for a good game of Monopoly (I need to do a future post about that topic). I wish I would have done this more my early years, but it’s better to learn late than to never learn at all.
