The first month or so on the road has felt different than I expected - I've spent many nights at my parents' in Denver, most nights sleeping in traditional home rather than in Rex, spent a lot of quality time with some good friends and family I hadn't seen in awhile, but also found some time and space for myself and to ease my longing to be on the road. While it wasn't always a welcomed period of transition, I'm thankful for the experiences and seeing it as an exercise to live in the present, rather than keep longing for the future.
On adventuring
...What I have learned is that this is MY life, MY journey. I'm the captain of it, and I will sure as heck choose my own adventure...
Starting this fall, I’ll be spending the next however-long-it-takes traveling the countryside of North America. My focus will be on taking a #standforpublicland and sharing the importance of our public lands, of conserving them, and of connecting with them. Public land is essentially all we have left of the wild here in the states, and I want to make sure it is around for generations to come to connect with and learn and grow from.
Becoming a Birth Photographer
Oh my gosh, I am quite the combination of amped and nervous right now!
Over the course of the past year I've been debating and pondering becoming a birth photographer. As you may know if you've read my bio - my good friend Lauren is a wonderful midwife and has been carefully prodding me to make the move and join forces with her as a part of the birthing world. After as much indecision and stalling as I could muster, and with great friends and resources behind me, I finally decided to take the plunge. I decided I'd "do the work!" (to quote my favorite creative boss ladies of the Being Boss podcast)
In early September I flew out to Denver, Colorado for the weekend to be a student in Monet Moutrie and Jennifer Mason's Birth Becomes Her Seminar. Guys, talk about feeling intimidated. I walked in to a room of beautiful mothers with years of life experience on me - not to mention the experience of actually having birthed children! (Hey though, I'm willing to bet most NFL photographers never ever played in the NFL, so that makes me feel better). But boy did I leave that weekend excited and confident! Not only did I learn so so so much about birth, what to expect, and how to manage the on-call nature of the work; but they also taught us the tools to set up and run a successful business, do so with longevity and personal branding, and we all gained an amazing professional support group in each other.
I've spent the past few months at workshops, studying and reading, reaching out to other professionals, marketing, building social media, doing and re-doing my website over and over, and anxiously awaiting THIS.
Today is it!
My first birth client is beginning labor! In the next handful of hours I will finally have achieved my goal and gotten to shoot my first birth!! I am so excited and anxious. I can only imagine how Mama feels... That would be crazy after 9 plus months of waiting. So here I am, early so I figured I'd do some more work, and trying my best to remember all that I have learned and worked towards, trying to be patient and professional... Ready to do this.
Anyway - I'll keep you posted. Look for Austin's birth story and images over the next few weeks!
An Overdue Introduction to Iceland
Iceland blew my mind. It supersedes anything imaginable.
The land is purely magical.
A Decadent Illusion
Here we go! Site launched, business cards in hand, prints ready, art show time!!