Thoughts on Success and Eating Cake.

So I follow the blogs of several well known photographers and many of them focus on "leaving your nine to five, or getting out from behind the cubical" as if that is the key to success. I suppose for many people that is the goal. They have become photographers to get out of dead end jobs or it is their passion to only do photography. And many times I have judged myself against that thought, and felt unsuccessful, when really I never should have done that. My husband, sweet that he is, gave me a little pep talk on my feelings of success (or lack thereof) and I took some things from that conversation and mulled it all over, and came to the conclusion that everyone else's definition of success doesn't work for me.

At the end of the day I am extremely lucky to do what I do both for my day job and my business. I like doing what I do and I want to have my cake and eat it too. I went to school all those years ago to become a graphic designer...I love to design, and lucky me I have a fantastic job with an amazing company that hired me to be in charge of the design department, I love it! And bonus... its minutes from home. Awesome.

I also love my photography work. It is my creative outlet, the way I can expressive myself freely, and capture your expressions in an artistic way. It makes me happy to make my clients happy, and gives me a satisfaction like I have never had before. I love to see the feedback that someone gives to me when an image I created made them laugh or cry or feel loved.

So in conclusion, after re-evaluating the meaning of success for me in my life, I realize that having my day job makes me very successful, having my photography business makes me very successful, having a happy marriage with a wonderfully supportive caring and loving husband makes me very successful, having 3 beautiful healthy children that I love makes me very successful, and I dont want to give up any of those areas to reach what someone else's version of success is. I will have my cake and eat it to, thank you very much, because thats what you should do with cake.

P.S. The company I work for Cartech books Just launched their brand spanking new website at http://www.cartechbooks.com/ you can find lots of gifts their for the car buff in your life (and you can see me and the crew and some of my photography work on the about us page.) Enjoy the thanksgiving holiday everyone - wishing you all your own version of success.

The Nelson Family

Sara is an amazing creative person who I feel has a similar spirit to my own. I met her and her beautiful family for some photos at their house in North Branch for some fun photos. Here are the beautiful results.

Her little boy really loves his kitten, so we started off with taking a few pictures of him and his pal.

These two brothers are so nice to each other! I loved how willing they were to give each other a hug.

So this next one is my favorite from the day - I got all mushy when I saw it!

Sarah and Nicks 2011 Family photos

Nick and Sarah have been coming to me for their families photos for years and years now and I swear every year gets more fun! This year we had a bit of a weather issue but you cant tell by the beautiful photos. This year they had an extra couple families with them so we had a crazy fun time with all of those kids! Here are the previous years, its fun to see the kids grow-up! 2008 2009 2010.

Thank you Nick and Sarah for year after year coming to me and being so willing to try all my new ideas you guys are the best!

I love tickle fights :)

The whole group with grandma

ahhh yes - here is the family I know and love - I knew eventually I would capture the real you's.

:) hahaha

Awww cut it out you two - your just to darn adorable together!!

Anna's fun family photo session

We had so much fun running around the Cambridge city park - we enjoyed one of the last wonderful sunny days of fall. The kids had so much fun running around that it was hard to reign them in for photos, but we did get them to pause once and awhile for some fun photos. Enjoy.

Heidi and her beautiful girls

I had planned a shoot with these beautiful ladies thinking we would hike the fields and lay in the grass, and all the fun things of late fall - but really I should have realized that it is Minnesota and November, which often means snow... So we got the pleasure of taking photos after the very first snow of the season, they turned out wonderful. We had to stop a time or two to warm finger and toes, but I loved the rosy glow of cheeks and the pop of color on the snow. Heidi actually told me she was not photogenic - ha! Can you believe that? She is such a beautiful woman - Just look at her, I have always thought she should have been a model. Well the one thing she is and does to a perfection, is being a mom. She loves her girls and they love her!

Laura and Matt's Trash the Dress

I know that this is out of order but I finished the Trash the dress edits first so I thought I would share them. This couple is so sweet and they had the best wedding and the sweetest Trash the Dress session the day after. Every time I would come back to these images it just amazed me the way these two are together, they just have it... the sweetness, the love, the adoration for each other. I can just see it in their happiness, and the looks they give to each other. I just love photographing couples like this. Enjoy the photos - they speak louder than my failing words. I can never describe it the way the images do.

I love her bare dirty feet in these next couple.

Laughter is one of my favorite things to capture!

I love all the grain around the grain bins in these, the grain bins ended up being such an artistic background!

The red barn was my favorite, such a great pop of color!

Growlllll, look at these two, they are like models!! :)

The forest on Matt and Lauras land was a beautiful backdrop. I love wedding photos in a forest, I think I loved everything about this session.

And just as a little teaser.... Here is a beautiful photo from the wedding. As I am working through the edits I realize there is going to be a wonderful blog post full of beauty when I am finished.