Sympathy Pains and New Sessions

It was a bit of a hectic weekend…A family shoot, a product shoot and my mom’s birthday all rolled up into one weekend! Not to mention to killer tooth ache I have.  Okay side bar: When I was pregnant, Craig had sympathy pains. I know a lot of people think I am crazy when I say this but he felt nauseated, he got headaches and he gained the weight. In fact if I hadn’t had to take the P17 shots, he probably would have gained more than I did. We ate healthier and at first we were both walking a lot. It was so funny to see him feeling my pain…I know that sounds mean but men get off so easy on the whole pregnancy thing.  So tonight, I have this huge tooth ache and he looked at me and started rubbing his jaw. Now he is feeling sharp pains in the same side of the jaw I am. Craig and I are the disgusting couple that can finish each other’s sentences, hang out with each other all of the time and say the same things at the same time. 

So, back on track. I had the pleasure of holding  a Family Session with Alex, Ronnie and their 3 kids. This family was so much fun to work with. I was digging their laid back casual wear and their sassy personalities. The kids got out of their car and walked right up to me to show off their new kicks. I guess they digged me back :). We talked about Justin Beiber, school and turtles. I was a little bummed when I first got to the location because it had just started to pour down rain. It only lasted for 15 minutes but it made for one hot and muggy shoot. Thank you Coffee Shop for your free redness remover. It works great for days like this! Ronnie is actually my hair dresser and I look forward to working with her in the future.

Anyways, I wanted to share some of the product photography and family shoot I did. My grandma will be putting this stuff up on Ebay in September. I will be posting the links to all of it then.  I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoy.

My AH HA Moment on gaining new clients.

The past few weeks I have been sitting here having my little pity party. I was re-energized by the fabulous Jasmine Star with the help of TWiT. TWiT had her on for about an hour and a half and as always Jasmine did not fail with her delivery of helpful and inspirational stories. One thing that she said helped me get into my AH HA moment. When I do free shoots I just ask people on my Facebook or friends if they would mind having a free shoot done. I was being closed minded about free shoot. I was thinking just in terms of experience. However, I should be thinking in terms of business and gaining clients. Of course no one minds a free shoot but I should be giving free shoots out to people with connections and people that are in my target range. So first I sat down and thought of who is in my target range. Well I am a Sex in the City type of Gal so I want fashionable, higher end people with an age range between 27 to late 30’s. This doesn’t mean I am not going to shoot newborns, children or seniors, this just means I need their parent’s and the seniors to fit into this style. 

So, yesterday I was talking to my insurance agent and he said he was looking to get family pictures and would keep me in mind. At the time I was having a bad day, I was tired and I was thinking to myself, “Yeah right, you are not going to call me”. However, today my AH HA moment hit me while driving home from an interview. I need to secure him as a client. How will I do this? I will give him a free shoot with the CD of pictures. In return, I get my pictures hanging on his walls at home and in his office. Since he is an insurance agent he talks to a wide range of people every day. Friends, Family and clients will ask who took their pictures and they can give out my information. He fits my target range and there is NO WAY he will turn down a free shoot.  So, I am going to call him back and make him the offer here in a bit. But I am not stopping with him! I am calling my realtor and Management Company and a few more people that fit this target to offer them the same thing. I have a good feeling about this! I will gain experience and connections and that is just as good as cash! Plus this is free advertising! Word of mouth is the way to go. 

I think my sticky note is working! 

Type A and Stepping Out….

I haven’t blogged in a while because so much has been going on. I decided I am sick and tired of waiting for people to come to me because it wasn’t working! I enrolled back in school to finish my Associate’s degree. I am only about 10 classes away from obtaining that degree. I also started applying for jobs to get back into my field of Executive Administrator.  I would rather focus my attention on my photography and stay at home with my daughter, but our financial issues are not getting any better.  So, I figured if I can get my Associate’s this will help me land a job that has a steady income. A steady income means I can get back into my home, pay off bills, get out of debt and buy some more of the photography equipment I need to fulfill my dreams. 

If you asked me where I want to be in 5 years from now I would say I would love to be in a home on some land. On that land I would like to have a small studio that isn’t attached to the house. I would love to build the landscape around my home to make different scenes that I would love to shoot at. For instance: a bridge over a pond, a big water fountain attached to this pond, a beautiful garden, some trees to make a faux wooded area ….you get the idea. During the days I am not using my studio, I would rent it out to other photographers that were in need of it. I would have all of my equipment there for them to use and they would pay a flat rate for a few hours. In order to get this dream going I need some serious cash! So, I am making the move to go back to school and work to fulfill this dream.  I am not quitting my photography or shutting down the business. I am still going to do photo shoots and try to build my cliental up. I have also enrolled at NYIP to take some photography courses and those are all go at your own pace. I know my days are about to be loaded up and I will be overwhelmed, over tired and just plain hectic. This is just something I need to do to get me to the end point I want and need. 

Which brings me to being a Type A personality. I was reading Jasmine’s blog tonight and she had listed the character traits of Type A and Type B personalities. As I read them to Craig to see what is input was, I only had to read the first three and he was like YEP that is you! I was a bit stunned because I didn’t really think I fit into either one of them; somehow this became the discussion of the night. Now everyone is coming up with examples of how I am Type A.  I am going to take this as a positive thing and use it to my advantage: Dream Big or Go Home….or in my case back to your mom’s garage. 

I am ready to take control over my own life and live to see my dreams come true. My sticky on my lap top says "she believed she could so she did"!

The LoveCat

As I read through J*’s blog, I noticed she mentioned a book called “Love is the Killer App” by Tim Sanders. This was just the book I was looking for! I ordered it and started reading it a few days ago. This book talks about how to move up in business today is to be a LoveCat. A LoveCat is someone that is generous with his/her knowledge, contacts and themselves. I love this philosophy because I know it works. At my last job I met a LoveCat and that is who started to train me. I noticed right away she was a genuine person, she shared her knowledge instead of hoarding it to herself, everyone LOVED her and she had loads of contacts. She knew EVERYONE! I knew right then, I wanted to be just like her! She took me under her wing and I soaked up everything from her.

A few years later she had moved on and I had become the new LoveCat. I didn’t even realize it until after I left the job. I look back and I shared all of my information with the new girls that came in, I was nice to everyone even if they weren’t so nice to me, I would read and gain any knowledge I could about my job and the project I was on and I couldn’t go 5 feet down the hallway without someone asking me how everything was going. I now had tons of contacts! Not just through my project but the company as well as the clients. I loved being the LoveCat. Everyone knew they could trust me, they enjoyed being around me, they knew I would help in any way I could and they knew I was a genuine person. 

I am proud to be a LoveCat and I strive for this blog to do the same thing I did at my old job. I want this blog to connect me with photographers and friends all over the world. I want us all the soak up knowledge from each other and share it with anyone who wants it, I want my clients to trust me and I want all of us to be LoveCats. 

Thanks J* for the recommendation and thank you for being a LoveCat.

Don’t keep a girl waiting…

I am not the most patient person when it comes to things I want or need. I am a very driven go getter and I have high expectations of myself. I can be patient with my husband, my daughter and even the drivers on Houston streets, but I am not patient with myself.  Here let me back up a bit….

January 19^th 2010 I was about to be 17 weeks pregnant and I was suddenly put on bedrest. The doctor put me on bedrest because he said he saw blood floating around in the sac. He pointed out little white specks and remarked how they differed from the other white specks. A few days later my sac of water sprung a leak. My fluid level went from 20cm to 14cm then down to 12cm. Thankfully, that was the lowest number I saw. The normal levels are from 8cm – 20cm. Anyways, while on bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy I decided that God’s lesson for me in all of this was faith! I had to have faith my daughter would make it against all of the odds and mounting complications. This year God is teaching me all about patience and again, I am NOT the most patient person. 

I have to be patient about my journey with photography and my own business. I have to be patient with my housing and working situation. I have to be patient with my daughter’s illness.  Most importantly, I have to be patient with myself! I can’t expect to rush this journey I am on. We learn the most about ourselves and our passions through our journeys. It is what makes us who we are and makes us appreciate where we have come from.

…..but God, please don’t keep a girl waiting. I am ready to be back in my home, I am ready for my daughter to spend a night in the nursery that her Daddy and Uncles worked so hard on. I am ready to make money to pay for my daughter’s medical bills. I am ready to start swimming and stop doggy paddling through life.  I pray there is a glimmer of hope near us soon. 

Little Miss "A"

When I set out to sell my favorite swing for my daughter on Craig's List, I never thought I would have the pleasure to meet Little Miss "A" and her parents.Yes, you read that right. MY favorite swing, my daughter liked the cheapest one on the market and I of course had her in the most expensive on the market, lessons learned. Go with the cheap stuff and seek out resale shops!. Anyways, my mom went off to meet the new buyers of the swing at our storage unit and asked them if they had thought about having a newborn shoot done. They said they were looking and my mom passed on my card. A short time later, I was in their apartment having a session with this little Doll! She loved the camera at first. Once we got her to sleep, the real fun began. We were changing hats, skirts, blankets and just having a lot of fun. Welcome to the world Little Miss "A", you are such a beautiful baby and I know your Daddy will have to fight off all of the boys because your mom is a Kourtney Kardashian look a like, and you look like her. 
To see more of her pics please click here.