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Yearly Archives: 2017
Have you ever just met someone and instantly knew they were pretty darn cool, like almost too cool to be your friend but they were anyway (which made them even cooler!) That’s Terri! She’s a photographer, creative, furniture maker, artist, and everything in between! We decided one day the other week to get together and have ourselves a little fun! In this creative life, you need to come together and surround yourself with friends in the industry! You need to come together to chat, bounce ideas off one another and most importantly you just need to let go and play! This is exactly what Terri and I did the other week when we decided to meet up, grab our cameras and take some much needed head shots!
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We spent the majority of the day together just laughing (truly out loud) at the most inappropriate things! We shared our big scary goals and we shared our fears! We shared what’s going on in our lives as parents and wives and together we had a pretty amazing day!
Do you ever get to do this with the people in your life and in your industry? I hope you do because it is soo good for your soul! I think we both went back to our homes that afternoon feeling refreshed and refueled!
I’m so excited for you guys to meet Terri! She is full of color and life and a vibrancy that is just breath taking! If you want to find out more, check her out on her instagram here!
In the meantime… here are my favorite images from our adventure!
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We headed out to a fun little spot behind the high school where we transitioned into our atler ego’s! hahah!
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Thank you Terri for such a FUN day! I can’t wait until we get together again… old town, coffee and treats! It’s going to be epic friend!!!
xoxo
I know right know we are right in the middle of a time where we have access to everything at the touch of our fingers! Everything we need is at an instant digital access. It’s on our computers, our laptops, our Ipads and it all transfers over from the cloud right onto our phones. It’s easy and it’s amazing and it’s perfectly convenient, especially when it comes to our priceless family images! Trust me, I love the fact that I can upload my client family galleries and my own personally galleries to PASS and then also have the app on my iphone where I can instantly e mail them or share them right on instagram whenever I want! It’s amazing and it’s something I don’t take for granted one second of the day. However, with all the greatness of technology now, we all tend to forget about the incredible option to print our images! I know a lot of us talk about it. We all want to print our images and plan to print them. Some of us (me included) have designated space on our walls where the perfect family portrait is meant to be hung; it’s just well… with all the instant digital access and our busy lives and jam packed schedules, we forget. Has that happened to you? Does it happen to you? Are there images sitting on your computer or living on your hard drive at home that you keep meaning to print but it just hasn’t happened yet?!
Or is there something else that holds you back from printing images? Does it seem to outdated? I was talking with a girlfriend of mine the other day on my couch about this very topic. My house is filled with pictures. Some are in picture frames all over our walls, on shelves, and in just about every nook and cranny you can find. Other images you can find decorating our fridge or really just even lying around the house waiting to find a home. My girlfriend laughed and asked me why I constantly print my images when I can just file them away on the computer and then call them up whenever I like! I knew then and there that I had to explain myself.
For me, I have 5 certain reasons why I print my images:
- Provides me a way in which I can physically hold them and touch them helps me see the beauty in my real life! When Linc was first born and I was in the midst of post partum depression my camera and my photography was truly what helped me turn things around. If you want to read more about my whole experience, you can check out these blog posts where I write about everything in full detail (part one and part two ). Keeping my camera up and shooting my real life for all the raw and endearing moments, the truthful moments, and then being able to print them out and reflect on those moments helped me see how amazing our life was! Beauty lies in the chaos and in the mess and I absolutely love that. I found my passion in that! In fact, in this season I am in now, this age of 4 year old all boy-ness, I still need to see that “real” day in and day out of motherhood! The art of actually printing those images though and being able to feel them with your own fingers and not just staring at the computer screen; it’s bring everything full circle. For me, it allows me to feel the image and see the truth of the moment in a different light! Printing breathes life into an image in a way that the computer screen or the iphone screen just can’t.
- Allows me to connect to family who lives farther away: I like to choose a few images each month to print out and have them sent directly to my house. Once the images arrive, I carefully select which images I want to keep for myself and which images I want to send to certain family members that live in different states! This is so fun for me! Sometimes I know I’m going to have order double or triple of certain images and others it’s always fun to choose who will simply adore each image and who might want another! I usually like to write a handwritten note or send the images off with a care package for our families that live out of town. I love to do this especially monthly because it’s a way for our families to feel connected to one another. It’s nice for them to be able to see Linc’s growth and all the changes he goes through and what we are doing with our time here in Florida. I know our families can connect with us on facebook, the blog, or through social media; but it’s so nice to receive mail! Everyone loves to get mail in the actual mailbox. Plus, (once again) it’s nice to have something to hold onto!
- Having a physical body of work: As a photographer and a creative it’s incredible to actually see your work physically in print! That sounds so silly, I’m sure, but at least for me actually seeing my hard work and my creativity and my passion hanging on someone’s wall… ya’ll it’s the best feeling in the world! Even if it’s my own wall… it just feels amazing! It takes me back to that moment in time and gives me all the feels! Printing your images gives that moment life outside of the computer screen, and yes it does give it life! Somehow and I don’t know why, but somehow it makes it feel real again. It’s like the velveteen rabbit! You can touch it and feel it and somehow it just becomes that moment again. I feel the same way (sort of) when I see it on the computer screen. Yes, I am taken back to the moment and yes I love it all the same, but for me there is nothing like walking past the canvas I have in my hall of Linc splashing in the Disney water at the Casey Jr. Play area and feeling the leather wrap. It’s big and the colors are vivid and I can absolutely just get lost back in that moment again on that very first day we all visited Disney!
- Gifting: I absolutely love to gift prints! I know how much printed images mean to me (I mean goodness, if you don’t think I’m a weirdo about it by now), so I adore being able to bring that joy to others. Sometimes in the midst of a tough season being reminded of what you have in your life in print form of a beautiful moment is just what someone needs! As photographers we are able to do just that. In fact, we are charged with it!
- Bringing the stories and legacy for Linc: I am always blown away and it just melts my heart to see the look on Linc’s face as he remembers the moments of his life! These are legacy pieces that we are building for our families and if they are just sitting on hard drives or computers they aren’t truly able to fulfill their purpose. Images need to be held and touched by big hands but especially by little hands! Linc loves to hold our prints. He loves to flip through his own albums and hear his own stories. He begs to read them over and over again. He loves to help pick out frames and find spaces on the walls where our “memories belong” or so he says now. These my friends are exactly why we as photographers spend so much time capturing images for you! This is why I love what I do and why I enjoy photography so much. Why I am so passionate about family photography. Images are to be captured and printed and to be so worn out that we know them by heart!
Friends: at the end of the day whether you print or hoard on computers and hard drives, as long as you know your stories so intimately that each moment captured is truly a reflection of that time and it’s visited so often it feels worn out in your heart…. it’s a job well done!!!
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Ok, you can all make fun of me because I realize we are in the final week of February and starting March and I am really just now getting a handle on all my goals for this year! I don’t believe in resolutions! A few years back, we started doing the word for the year where you choose one word and really try and harness in the full meaning of that word and you want it to shape your life! I really love what it has done for me and so I continue to come back to that. This year, I also started Lara Casey’s Power Sheets . I could only get the 6 months but truthfully that’s actually the best for me at this moment in my life. I mean hey, it’s almost March and I’m just now getting to the month tab! I really wanted to take my time on cultivating these goals! Anyway, I didn’t just want to create goals for myself, I wanted to have some fun family goals as well! Sort of a bucket list but for the year.
I always loved it when I would go over for to my friend Brandi Hunley’s house because on her fridge she would craft this gorgeous calligraphed bucket list on paper for each season! I really want to start doing this in my home (it won’t be beautiful and it won’t be calligraphed, I tried that… I gave up!) As I was moving through the power sheets it asks you really great questions and so something I came up with when also thinking about Brandi’s gorgeous bucket lists that I wanted to implement was doing one for this whole year! This way I can have a running list to refer to and continue adding as we check things off.
One of my main goals for this year is more family adventures and creating this actually helps me on the way!
So here it is friends, and actually YOU can help cross a big one off this list!
TUCKER FAMILY GOALS: 17 IN 2017
- More Date Nights with Tuck! I want to have at least 1 night a month alone with him if not two nights a month where we switch off all the planning. I’m talking the person responsible plans everything from the babysitter to the actual date! To be quite honest, we haven’t done a superb job “dating” each other since Linc was born. We go for spells where we are great at it and then we basically go back to sucking at it. This is the first time in our entire relationship and also in Linc’s life where Tuck has been home and not traveling so we can actually DO this now and I’m excited to really go for it!
- Totally “Unplugged” Weekends: I’ve been doing this for a while now and again, it’s off and on. Sometimes we are fantastic at this and other times it can’t be helped. We are working on being more intentional at actually shutting off phones or not even bringing them with us when we go on adventures on the weekends and let me tell ya’ll it is AMAZING. It’s just a lot more simple when you aren’t trying to multi-task with social media.
- Take Linc to Gatorland: We actually just crossed this off our list but he had been dying to go! We all wanted to go and I guess I can keep it on because Linc wasn’t able to get the photograph he wanted with the large ball python around his neck and the baby gator in his lap. This child ya’ll….
- Disney Cruise: This is a very big bucket list item of mine for life! Our friends go every year and sometimes even twice a year! We hear how amazing they are and that it’s the way to go if you have young children especially. I never wanted to cruise, in fact I’m sort of afraid of boats of all sizes because of the titanic. But ya’ll, I’m dying to take my family on a Disney cruise!!! I want to do it all, I want the experience of the characters, the dinner shows, the pirate theme nights, and just everything! I just love Disney and you know that if Disney is doing a cruise, it’s going to be the best cruise ever!
- Tuck to compete/participate in at least 2 races: Before we had Linc, Tuck used to love to race. He would participate in this adventure races that would last 72 hours and would have their teams biking, kayaking and orienteering all over the world. He would also run 100 mile racers and even longer! He trains for iron mans and anything and everything in between. Sadly, once we had Linc, it was hard for Tuck to find time to train. I needed his help and then it became harder and harder. Now that we live in Florida and our schedule is so much more consistent, I’m hoping we can make it more of a priority for him to train and compete once again. I want Linc to see how amazing his daddy is and one day participate in these type of races with him!
- Visit Florida’s Hot Springs: We didn’t even realize we had hot springs until our friend’s came to visit and now I want to hike and see all the different ones!
- Spend more time with my underwater camera: Once we start moving into beach weather, I want to really work on my skills with my underwater camera this year! I want to take it to the beach and catch our friends and all our kids surfing! I want to take it to the pool and work on capturing candids of the littles swimming! I want to start brainstorming a fun and unique way to offer a session underwater!
- Surfing!!! I want to really get out and surf more this year but even more so… I want Linc to surf this year!
- Family portraits at the beach this year, NSB or Watercolor!!! I really want to have our own family portraits taken this year and I want to travel to the beach to do it. I want to have them taken at New Smyrna where I did my last portrait session at the beach! Gosh it was gorgeous there at sunset!!! OR… I want to have them taken in Watercolor which is a distance to travel so we would want to stay there as a family! If we chose that option, I totally want to shoot a family session there for someone else!!!
- More church on Sunday’s as a family!!!
- Dedicate Time to Create Family Albums: I used to be so great at this when Linc was a baby! Now, I haven’t truly created one since he was 2 years old. I just haven’t found the time and honestly, I can’t muster up the motivation to start. I know once I start, I will roll right into it the ease of it; but actually starting is hard! I need to set aside time each month to chose the images and then start!
- Camp at Fort Wilderness: This is such a big bucket list item for both Tuck and I! There are a LOT of the Disney resorts we want to pick a few nights and stay but the top of our list is Fort Wilderness. They have all different kinds of “camping levels” if you will. Tuck and I want to actually camp. We want to bring our bikes and ride the trails, we want to climb the rock wall, we want to soak it all in. Linc would just flip his lid but Tuck… this is totally up his alley!
- Dolphin Encounter/ Swim with the Dolphins: I have wanted to do this since I was a little girl, I mean as far back as I can remember. I’m just going to put this out there and you can agree to disagree or love me or hate me. I am not a huge fan of sea world. I was when I moved here and I was super excited to visit the park! Then I visited the park… and then I came home and I read the book Beyond Blackfish; and now well I”m changed. So… yea, we don’t really visit SeaWorld that much and it’s not on our top to do list. It’s a fun park and I do think everyone should visit it at least once! Especially because very soon they will be changing the shows ya’ll!!! BUT… ever since I was a little girl I have always wanted to swim with Dolphins… AND sea world offers an amazing package! I think Linc might have to be 6 though so this one might have to wait a few more years to include him!
- Eat Dinner in the BackYard More: We have a pretty great back yard table and we do live in Florida where we can eat in the backyard on the deck pretty much all year round! I want to do that more often! Linc can run around with Tipper and we can just breathe and relax! We are away from the TV, Tipper doesn’t sit and beg and sometimes if the wind is just right we can see the Disney Fireworks!
- Sit on our own Porch and talk about the day: We are incredibly blessed to have two front porches: one out front on the bottom level and one private second story off our master bedroom. I would really love to be able to put Linc to bed and then sit on that master bedroom porch with Tuck and just review the day and talk about anything and absolutely nothing at all! At the moment, I’m such a lame mom. I literally get the family fed, get Linc to bath and bed and then get in bed myself! Sometimes I read, sometimes I write, but other times I just lay down and watch a show and fall asleep… at like 8 pm. Tuck usually heads downstairs to clean up dinner (bless that man), feed and walk Tipper and then finish up some work. But ya’ll… wouldn’t it just be great if we could spend like a half hour just chatting?! My parents used to swing in the big old back yard swing and talk about their days: my dad’s day at the fire station or what had been going on and my mom’s at home day with us! They would talk about bills, or what was coming up or just adult stuff while my brother and I slept in our beds. I want to create that space for Tuck and I! I just gotta learn how to hang ya’ll! I gotta keep myself awake!
- Make a Garden or a “Digging Spot” for Linc: I’ve been quietly talking to Tuck about this (haha). Linc loves to dig in the earth and search for worms. It’s almost meditative for him. It’s the only time in life that he is ever still. We don’t have a large back yard here like we did in Virginia Beach and I know Tuck is a bit protective about that; but I still want to create a space for Linc to call his own. A space for him to garden and dig. I have an entire idea in my head filled with cedar wood, pvc pipes and lots of pots, construction vehicles and gardening tools. It might even have some water elements as well. I just feel in my gut and heart that once this little space is created, we will see something happen! If I build it…. he will play!
- Host More Dinners/ Host More Family/More Friends/ Invite More Visitors!!! We love it when friends come over! We love it even more when our friends visiting Disney let us know and they are able to stop by for a home cooked meal here in Celebration. It makes my heart so happy! If you don’t have a car, we will come get you! If you aren’t able to come to our home, we will meet you at the park or out for dinner one night. If you want a chance to just breathe and burn off some energy… come over and we can play at one of our many parks or here in our playroom! This is a big reason why we moved here! We knew we could still connect with our friends and our family! Please know that you are always welcome here in our home!!!
So there it is friends… our 17 in 2017!
What are your family goals or plans for this year?! What do you want to do or dreaming of doing with your family?!
If you write it down I promise you it gives it a life!!!
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terri - brooke !!!!!!! you are too sweet !!!! loved our day together and cannot wait to do it again !!! so much fun ;););) thank-you for all your kind words …. you are amazing as well and will be posting yours soon ;););) !!!! T
i love all my images ;);););)