Hello All!

     This past week I went on a family vacation to Perdido Key in Florida.  About 10 minutes into the trip, we had a truck drop about 20 iron rods in front of us.  The rods were bouncing around the interstate as we tried to swerve and miss them.  Luckily no one was injured, however, our truck did manage to get a few scratches.  We ended up sitting on the side of the interstate for about an hour and a half waiting to file a police report.  It's hard in those kind of situations to see how lucky we were.  Somebody could have been injured or even killed.  In situations like that, just take a deep breath and look around at what you still have.  Find the good in every struggle, pain, or incident; there is good, you just have to look hard enough.  Along with this rough start to the vacation, came the good.   My family had a great time at the beach and we had beautiful weather, mostly.  Below I wanted to share some photographs I took early one morning as I watched the sunrise.  I had trouble sleeping one night and ended up waking up very early.  I went to the balcony to discover this beautiful setting.  These kind of photographs seem unreal because we don't realize how beautiful life is.  See, this very experience is a bad situation which led to a beautiful thing.  A terrible night of sleep led to me living in this beautiful moment!


Song of the day:  "Paradise" by Coldplay

Almost seems unreal. The beautiful light taking over this dark world.

Beautiful sunrise.

 The light meets the dark.

Happy birthday to my sister Shawna! We celebrated her birthday this past week in Florida!

Hello All!
       I was looking through folders with photographs I've taken over the past year and a few select images stood out to me.  Today I wanted to post some photographs I took of my grandparents this past December.  For the past two years I have taken photos of them during the holidays around their home.  At Christmas time, I help my grandmother frame the photographs for her to send off to her children and grandchildren.  This is just a small deed I can do that means so much to both my grandparents and the rest of the family.  The past couple of years have been tough for them; my grandfather battling and recovering from cancer, and just recently my grandmother has been sick, discovering she has diverticulitis.  These two people have lived an amazing life and have a lot to show for it.  They have three successful children and too many grandchildren to count.  They represent a life that we all want in some form.  When we get to the end of our lives, what do we want?  Do we want lots of stuff or do we want to be surrounded by people, people that love us?  I choose the second option.  It gets hard to do sometimes, but try and remember your purpose, and where you want to be at the end.  Don't get caught up in all the stuff that you see in the stores or on television.  The time you have on this Earth, put that time into people.  People will be the ones who have your back in tough times, not that $60,000 car.

Song of the day: "Frank D. Fixer" by Jason Mraz

      

Hello All,

        It is a beautiful day to be alive! Sorry I've been slacking on the blog. No excuses, but I will pick it up now and keep the blog updated! I wanted to post some photographs from my cousins senior session I did last week. Elizabeth Stallings, aka Liz, is moving into her senior year of high school. It is crazy because I remember when she use to drive me crazy as a child. Honestly, I was always really mean to her when she was younger, ironically now we are close. She too shares an interest in photography. She doesn't believe me, but I think she is far more talented than I was at her age. So by the time she gets as old as I am now, she will surpass my talents. It is so unbelievable how time flies by. One day I'm telling this little red headed, annoying girl to quit bugging me, the next we are talking about what college she wants to go to. Just remember time flies, take in every minute you have with your family, friends, and loved ones. Don't rush life, you only get this chance one time around.
Love ya Liz, so proud of you!

Quote of the day: "Did you say it? I love you. I don't ever wanna live without you. You changed my life. Did you say it? Make a plan, set a goal, work toward it, but every now and then, look around. Drink it in. Cause, this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow." Grey's Anatomy

Song of the day: "Off I Go" by Greg Laswell

I love this photograph. The vertical lines on the tin contrast with the horizontal lines in her dress. Plus she looks BEAUTIFUL!

One of the favorites from the group, I'm proud of this image. Liz and I went to the fabric store looking for something we thought would look good with her hair and eyes. This background turned out perfect. It has a great amount of detail, yet remains quite in the background, not taking the focus off of her. 

Not much to say for this one. Beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful person!

Can you say BAM! The black background makes everything just POP! Eyes, hair, and the purple shirt just tops it all off! BAM!

San Francisco

Saturday, June 16th 

Hello all! It is a beautiful day to be alive. I just wanted to post some photos from the trip I took this past March to San Francisco, California. The city by the bay was beautiful in every way. This was my first trip to California and I was not let down. Along with seeing the usual tourist attractions including: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Lombard Street, it was also an amazing experience to just walk through the city. Being from a small, southern state, it's easy to forget how much more there is to experience out there. It can be intimidating to go to a different place, but everyone needs to experience life and what it has to offer. Remember, You Only Live Once. YOLO! Now go, go experience life!

Song of the day: "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z

walking towards the Golden Gate Bridge

The Bay

fog rolling in on the bridge

I thought the road winding into the rolling hills was beautiful, almost unreal. 

Hello All,
 Today I hired my niece to model for some test shooting in the new studio; her payment included a rented redbox movie, and a soon to be purchased new toy. I feel like I'm ripping her off a little because her photos turned out so beautifully today.  I have photographed her since she was a baby. It really is amazing to see how beautifully she responds in front of the camera. All the time she has spent posing for me, really shows as she has grown older. Sometimes my attitude towards photography can get negative, but then something happens and I find inspiration. Photographing family seems to always get me back on track. It reminds me why I love my job so much. There is nothing like capturing beauty in someone, that they didn't realize was there. The key is to make the person comfortable, otherwise, there is no point in making portraits of that person. I still struggle making first time clients feel comfortable, but moments like today with my niece, pushes me to keep trying. Everybody deserves to have at least one portrait of themselves where they see more than just their flaws. Peace out my friends.

Song of the day: "Lucky" by Jason Mraz

On June 11, 2012, Clinton, MS had a severe storm come through the area. Luckily there were no reported tornadoes, however, our pool area suffered from the storm. Of course, it would get damage, after we worked hard to get the pool pavilion looking good and "party ready". Now we will have a rush to get our pavilion in top notch shape for the next upcoming party.  Sometimes when these kinds of things happen I wonder why do I even try. Why do we try? We build knowing that one day, things will fall. Well I guess its not about that because nothing lasts forever. It's more about how you handle yourself when things get dark. Just remember, the sun shines brightest after the storm. As Andy Grammer says, "ya gotta keep your head up". 

So my after graduation plan has begun! I have opened up a small studio in Clinton, MS. After being so drained from my last semester as an undergraduate, I thought it would be a good idea to create some new energy to get me rolling with life. That's where energymuse came into play. I found this interesting website with all types of jewelry. Each piece of jewelry is designed with specific stones to create different energies for different people. I found the present necklace to be perfect for my circumstances. The affirmation for the present necklace is, "I surrender both my past and my future; I live in the power of now." It is a perfect attitude for where I am at in life at the moment. I live for now! Instead of focusing on my mistakes in the past or worrying with where I'll be in 10 years, I'm going to focus on living in the moment. Check out their website at energymuse.com. Below is a photo of me with my new energy, check it out!