It’s been a crazy summer (yes, I know it’s November)…and I had been so looking forward to school starting thinking that things would slow down a bit and I could catch my breath. No such luck. But I’m happy. Kids are busy, mom is busy, dad is busy, business is busy…we’re all busy *doing* with no time to record. But there are lots of things to record. There is family life to record, sessions to blog, products to tell you about, new styled sessions to tell you about and other business stuff and creative stuff and oh so much more. The first day of school too…as my mom was just here for Halloween and oh so gently reminded me that she never saw the kids first day of school pictures. Eek. That was a long time ago. Which brings me to this post, which is mostly me talking about random stuff .

I’ve been thinking about this blog a lot lately. Thinking about my process of blogging. I started blogging years ago when I was more of a scrapbooker than a business woman. The blog was lots of randomness which was mostly read by my mother, but it also had important stuff in there and stuff that other moms related to. Now I’m a busy mom of three with a busy business and I’ve noticed that as I leaned more into the client side of things, some of the mom stuff went away. Not here at home, necessarily…but with the storytelling that I had once loved to do. The blog needed to become a home for sharing business stuff…sessions and products and other information. Clients didn’t care so much about the little everyday stuff that was going on in my home or with my kids or my house projects or my everyday struggles and ramblings. So then blogging became weird to me. I didn’t know what to blog. I didn’t know how much to share and when to share and then I just stopped sharing. I tend to over think things sometimes this is probably one of those times.

I adore photography. It is something that I love with everything I am. Being a photographer is exactly what I need and want to be doing. When I think back to why I became a photographer, it all began with the storytelling. Capturing those little everyday moments that I knew would mean so much to me and my family both in the present and when my kids were grown. I loved getting behind the lens and getting those images that made me get a little misty eyed. I would scrapbook these memories and also share them on my blog. My readers enjoyed reading and liked the images…and soon began asking me to become the photographer for their families. It is a wonderful thing to be able to capture those everyday little memories for them. When a mom looks at an image that I took and says “you got his real smile” it brings joy to my heart. I love it.

But something is missing from this blog…ME. The photographer that you are hiring. I want to connect with you, the client and the family that you love. With this blog I began to worry too much about what people might want and forgot about what I wanted and needed. One of the greatest things in the world about owning your own business is the opportunity to make it what you want. There is more to me than just a business woman. And all of those parts make me the photographer that I am. So if I’m blogging about my son’s new room design or a new recipe or a trip to a swim meet keep in mind that those little things make up the person that I am. They contribute to the photographer that I am today and they will help me in capturing those little everyday moments in your child’s life that you want to remember forever. Those stories and tidbits of my life can help you relate to me and on session day, we’ll be more relaxed together. Most of my clients are moms like me…or have been…or will be one day. I don’t have amazing writing skills or perfect grammar and I’m not hilarious. I won’t have gripping stories to tell you that will have you on the edge of your seat waiting for the next post. But as a blog reader one of the best things is the ability to skim right over the posts that don’t interest you and get to what you came looking for…be it your grandchild who just had their first photo session, your extended family reunion shots or your daughter’s yearly photo shoot…or maybe you were interested in my son’s swim meet afterall either way, by giving myself the ability to post about what’s going on in my little world blogging becomes something that I love to do.

So why am I writing this? Because this blog just became all about me again. I did grow up an only child, you know…and do tend to like things to be all about me. (I’m kidding…kind of) I really just wanted to give myself permission to once again blog and record my family history along side the business aspects of my life. Hiring a photographer to capture your memories and loved ones is a personal decision. You need to feel comfortable with your photographer and relate to them in order for her to get those images that your heart desires. Hopefully this blog will help us connect a little better.

And with that…here is the first day of school:

That oldest boy looks less than pleased…not sure how many more years he’s going to put up with the camera

Although they do still welcome me walking them to their lines for the first day

This year the school did something pretty awesome. The teachers rolled out the red carpet, pulled the piano out of the music room to the front door and had all the students gather around for the Pledge of Allegiance and a rousing rendition of their school song – a great way to start off the day!