It seemed fitting that I’d start 2014 off with looking back at how my business has grown through 2013. God has blessed me beyond measure in my journey this year. My two biggest changes were new branding and a focus on newborn photography. God made it very clear to me that I should follow my passion for newborn photography, so I took it and ran with it. Newborn photography brings a huge set of challenges. Not only do you have to study the usual (proper lighting and camera settings), but newborn photography requires so much more. I’m sure the list can go on forever but some areas of study include posing, safely handling new little lives, editing (many newborns can be jaundice and/or have rashes), soothing, and properly setting up your backdrops and props to get the look you desire in your work. Just a couple months in, it became dramatically obvious to me that I needed help. I was in WAY over my head and had no idea where to even to look for help. That is when God sent me one of my biggest blessings of the year. I was blessed with the opportunity to go mentor with Erin from Ell Photography. I can’t even put into words how much she has helped me grow not only as a photographer, but also as a person. She didn’t hold back anything. She shared everything that she had learned over the years in her career as a newborn photographer. Now I am happy to call her one of my best friends, and I don’t know what I’d do without her. (For any photographer’s wanting to grow in newborn photography, I’d highly recommend an in-person workshop with someone. Erin does not offer this any longer, but there  are ton of great ones out there.) Since words would really do no good to explain how she has touched my life, I’ll just share some photos. 🙂

The photos above were from one of my very first newborn sessions in November 2012 (yes, not technically 2013 but close enough). I was so proud of them then because I put my whole heart into them. There wasn’t very much that I did correctly in that session (besides keeping baby safe). The lighting was wrong, the backdrop was setup wrong, the angle was all wrong, and we won’t even discuss the posing. Although these photos are tiny bit tough to look at because I see so many flaws, they are at the same time great to look back on. They show me how much I’ve grown over this very short time. I owe most of the credit for that growth to Erin.

In March of 2013 Erin welcomed me with open arms as I traveled to Baton Rouge for 2 days of mentoring with her. I was insanely nervous, and I had no idea what to expect. Let’s suffice it to say that Erin surpassed every expectation I had. She was kind, loving, patient, and a complete open book. I learned so much. More than anything I felt so much more confident to dive into newborn photography head first. One of the things she taught me was that it would take practice. So, I knew that I would need to invest my time practicing. I’m so incredibly thankful to the parents who brought me their sweet babies so that I could grow. Here’s just a few of them.

All of the newborns above were my very first sessions after my mentoring. They were all done in the very beginning weeks of March 2013. I still had a lot of growing to do, but I finally felt like I was on the right track to success. I now had the tools to help me along the way, it was just going to take A LOT of practice. I still feel like I learn and grow with each an every session. I hope that the learning and growing never stops. 🙂 Here are a few more sessions from 2013.

April 2013

May 2013

July 2013

August 2013 (Baby Boom a.k.a. a little piece of heaven for me)

And at the end of August I had the pleasure of assisting Erin for a twin boy session. It was so much fun to get to be in the studio with her again.

September 2013

December 2013

I think the photos speak for themselves in how God helped me to grow and blessed me immensely throughout the year. No matter how many newborn sessions I do, I will always and forever be amazed at the true little miracles they are. I’m so thankful that God saw it fit to allow me to enjoy these sweet little bundles. I’m thankful to each and every one of my clients that shared these special blessings with me throughout the year. 🙂

Now, my “year in review” blog post would just not be complete without a mention of my rebranding complete with a business name change. This is when my huge blessing number 2 entered onto the scene. She is none other than the amazing Samantha from Point of Vue Photography and Design. My experience with her truly deserves a blog post of its own. It will be coming soon… stay tuned.