For us as Americans, we know how to live stressful lives. Everything is go, go, GO. Big cities are filled with people coming and going, cars beeping and zooming. We have premade meals so that we have more time to work. There are watches, phones, tablets, and computers to keep lists, remind us of duties, and loads of information so that we can do more! 

More often than not I end up finding a place for families. I do enjoy having the ability to find something for them, but sometimes I don't know their area as well. I thought I would share how to choose the best location for family portraits and reasons why you should have something planned ahead of time as a family.

You know how it goes. You finally get around to setting up a time with the photographer for family photos. Somehow you found time in that schedule of yours. Then fear comes over you when you think about what you are supposed to wear. Yikes! I've seen it. I've been there before. You want to look your best but you don't want to have to spend more money on new outfits for everyone. Let me give you a few tips that might help either answer the questions or ease the concern. 

So you want to know what is in my camera bag? I am honored. No really, I love being able to share what I have learned along the way and what I do to make magic happen. Well, my type of magic anyway. When I first started out, I used to go straight to the post from a photographer I followed, to see what type of gear they had. I wanted to know, "How do they do it?"

I recently shared how I started using a Bullet Journal to help me set priorities and get things done. I thought it would be just as helpful to share with you how I stay motivated working from home. It's easy to get distracted by home chores, browsing Facebook, and just not having someone to hold you accountable (other than yourself). Am I alone on this one?

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, by Brene Brown, really helped me to break free from fears I had about business and the relationship I have with my clients. Brene is a research professor at the University of Houston who has spent the past sixteen years studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.

One of the biggest things about being a successful entrepreneur is being able to prioritize tasks. Working from home is tricky. Especially if you used to work for someone else and in a location other than your living room. Since moving to NY and getting settled in, we made the decision that I would work in the home. That being said it is much harder to create a routine in the day-to-day and stick to it. Feels like you are on vacation when really you aren't. I have to pinch myself to snap out of it.

Having a fancy camera is great. Taking the plunge and getting the best gear was the best decision I could have made for building my craft. My travel packing list will give you an idea of what I have, if interested. At the same time, one of the most influential ways in which I really learned about light and shooting differently was by using my iPhone. Yup. I am completely unconventional and after taking one digital photography course, I decided to teach myself everything I know (that doesn't discredit going to school; my favorite photographers went to art school). 

A web designer is someone who wraps up your dreams in a pretty package on the internet. There are so many things that go into making a site perfect. We all know that looks are important, but so is communication and easy to use navigation. A web designer spends hours researching and thinking about better ways to make the online experience more enjoyable. They live and breathe it. Kinda like how you might live and breathe your products, services or blog. 

So I debated sharing this, but I thought what I learned from it could help others too. About two weeks ago, my external hard drive with all of my photos on it, DIED. I had been meaning to back up everything onto another one and even online, but I didn't do it. I was too busy. It made me cry crocodile tears and it felt like someone important to me had died. All of my work, as well as my memories, were gone.

Lately I have been feeling like I have 5 arms that are getting stretched to the max. I love details and giving 100% to what I am doing but at the same time I feel like I am getting no where. I think I spend about 50% of my days at home worrying about getting everything done and feeling accomplished. My brain is one big fuzz pile. If a brain could be fuzzy that is.

Growing up I always had an aversion to being fake. Anything and everything that smelled of it made me run. So when it came time for posing people in front of the camera, I used to panic. My mind would freeze and I would find myself saying "ummm" "uhhhh" and looking rather unprofessional. I tried to stick to just candid stuff like events, but something deep inside was telling me that I needed to get over this.