Living the Dream

When people use to ask me what my occupation was, I’d tell them… I’m a full-time dreamer. In fact, if you venture over to my old myspace account, that statement is still listed under “occupation.” Also!, if you read this old post from last year, you’d see it was a “dream” message, that eventually pushed me to launch my photography endeavors!

So how ironic, yet befitting was it when I saw that  Laura Novak and Kimberly Wylie were hosting a portrait photography workshop titled, Living the Dream?!

For those of you who know me, you’d know that I’ve been struggling on finding my nitch niche. To shoot newborns? Children? Weddings? Which one? I love them all! But this workshop narrowed it down for me. On top of that, I met about 40 other amazingly talented photographers, some of who — with the help of Kim and Laura’s branding exercise– have helped me to finally figure out and define my brand. And now that I have it all jotted down in my Ah-Ha! notepad, I cannot wait to begin re-branding this summer!

This was a PERFECT workshop with so many take-away messages. And the most important take away Laura and Kim pointed out was the uniqueness in every one of us to follow our own paths. You see at this very moment, it is not my intention to one day build a studio and become a full time photographer. In fact, I always felt that my photography was much more intertwined with my nursing career. As an RN, every day I’m invited into the most precious and vulnerable parts of people’s lives, and because I was allowed to participate, I’ve learned how precious life really is. So that’s what fuels me behind each photographic session… And that’s why my style of imagery is unscripted, emotive, authentic, and free. Because really, those moments, versus the *purposely posed ones* are the moments that you can never get back. They’re the timeless moments that were meant to be captured, looked back on, and lovingly reminisced.

For this very reason, and also because of the RN in me, I’ve been looking into non-profit organizations like Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS), Pictures of Hope, and the Tiny Sparrow Foundation that provides complimentary photography sessions to terminally ill children or infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Because instantly freezing a fraction of time and providing people with something to hold on to, has got to be one of the most beautiful gifts that can be done with a camera.  So if you know anyone who is interested or would benefit, please send them my way!

And because a post is better with a picture (SOOC!), I leave you with this. A necklace charm gift from Tonya of Kotori (thanks!!). Although I have a just few shoots lined up in the next few months, the re-branding of my photography will have to be on back burner until I finish grad school (only 3.5 months to go!). And with that, I can start accepting more sessions again for the summer! (now accepting for June 2010 and after!). I can’t wait to get started with the changes I have tucked away in my Ah-Ha book and more importantly, to continue on in living my dream