The V Family: Through the Years

Now that I have been in business for one year, I have had the pleasure of having return clients.  I first met the V family through another client of mine, who happens to be Mrs. V's sister.  I photographed their extended family right when the Vs found out that they would be expecting their first child!  Several months later they contacted me and wanted me to do maternity photos for them, my very first maternity session!  It was a lot of fun and fun to see how Mrs. V's belly had popped out and how she was glowing with the beauty of her pregnancy.  Although the V family lives out of state, they drove to Virginia to visit family and allowed me to capture the very special memories of their very first pregnancy.  I felt truly honored.  After their baby boy was born, they wanted me to shoot his newborn photos as well and I was thrilled!  Baby W was also my first newborn session.  I am so thankful that this family has trusted me enough to be my guinea pigs for such important events in their lives.  I just saw the V family again over the weekend.  Baby W turns 6-months-old this Thursday and he is cute as a button!  It is truly humbling that his parents have once again chosen me to capture these precious memories.  I have enjoyed working with them each and every time that we have gotten together and I look forward to seeing them again in another 6 months when Baby W turns one!



 

 

 

 

 

 

Back To School!

It's that time of year once again!  The air begins to get a little cooler, a little crisper, days begin to grow shorter, and boredom from a long and lazy summer sets in.  Just in time, too, because all of this means that it is time for kids to return to school!  I always loved school growing up and the first day of school each year was always so exciting!  I can still smell the freshly cleaned halls, feel the smooth pages of a new text book, and sense the butterflies in my stomach anticipating seeing all of my friends after a long summer away.  My daughters start back to school next week and, I'm not gonna lie, I am more than ready for them to go forth into the world and learn!  Also, I kinda can't wait to have a little bit of quiet ME time, too!  Today I took the time to shoot a little "back to school" session with my daughters.  It was fun!  Don't tell anyone, but I think even they enjoyed it!  Here are some of the best shots from our little mini session today.

I am currently offering a Back to School portrait special.  This will include a 45 minute session, a disc of 10 edited images and print rights, all for only $80!  You can have photos of your children done like the ones below, or you could do a family session, an engagement session, senior session, etc.  Please contact me to schedule your session!

My "A-ha" Moment

Do you ever have those times in your life when you have those "a-ha" moments?  When you realize that you were meant to experience something so that you could learn an important lesson or hear an important message?  I just experienced this myself.  A couple of weeks ago I attended the last session of my most recent photography class.  I will admit that there were times throughout this course that I wasn't sure I was getting much out of it.  Not because I didn't think I could learn something from the course, but because at times I felt the instructor talked about things that were not really relevent to the course and not really helpful to us budding photographers.  However, it was during the last class that I realized why I was meant to take the class all along.  The teacher talked about how in our society we are taught to DO so that we can HAVE so that we will eventually BE somebody or something in the world.  We are taught that we should go to college so that we can earn or have a degree and that then we can fianlly be something.  I, myself, fell into this line of thinking as do so many other individuals out there.  I decided in high school that I wanted to be a therapist, so I did what I was "supposed" to do and applied for college, majored in Psychology, graduated, and then went on to graduate school where I earned my Masters in Counseling.  I had done it; I could finally BE a therapist!!!  However, after several years of working in the field of counseling, I started to realize that being a therapist was not what I was meant to be doing.  I never felt completely confident in that role and it actually caused me a lot of anxiety and unhappiness.  Around this time my husband and I started a family and after the birth of my second daughter, we made the decision for me to become a stay-at-home mom.  While I was happy about this decision, it was also difficult because I felt like I lost part of my identity when I was no longer working as a therapist.  Even though I was not quite fulfilled in that role, a large portion of my identity was wrapped up in my career choice.  It has taken me several years to come to the realization that I am who I am, and no degree or career can change that.  Enter the message that I heard from my teacher in class a couple of weeks ago.  He stated instead of the DO > HAVE > BE scenario; he believes it should look more like this: BE > DO > HAVE.  We should BE who we are, DO what we love, and then we will HAVE something that will then allow us to BE who we are truly meant to be.  When I heard this in class I literally got chills because this described my journey to becoming a photographer.  I am finally able to BE who I truly am.  And, as a result, I am enjoying the work that I do and have a happiness and sense of peace that I have never had before in my life.  So, I just wanted to share this experience and this message with all of you, just in case you are struggling in your life to figure out who to BE.  Just BE yourself, and the rest will follow.

And with that, I will leave you with a few images from my most recent sessions!  Enjoy!

Beautiful Miss E!

Yes!  I am blogging again!  Two days in a row!  Go me!

I wanted to share with you more photos from another session I had over the weekend.  I was contacted about doing some head shots for a young girl who is a musician and actress.  Her goal is to get into theatrical productions.  I can personally atest to her awesome talent as I saw her in a production of The Little Mermaid.  She has a beautiful singing voice!  I sincerely hope that these photos will help her advance in her future career and help her fulfill her dreams!  Best of luck to you, Miss E!

First Newborn Portrait Session!

Hello,

I am once again attempting to keep this blog up to date.  It is very hard, considering I am a full-time mommy first, try to keep my house at least somewhat clean, try to keep my family fed, and oh yeah, have a little photography business in there, too!  I recently did a maternity session with a couple who was expecting their first baby, a boy, at the end of March.  I offered to do photos of their new baby boy as well, since newborn portraits are something I have been wanting to try.  I have two daughters of my own, and for both of them, I took their photos for their birth announcements.  But that was 6.5 and almost 4 years ago, before I had my first fancy DSLR camera.  So, I knew I needed a new little babe to practice on.  Enter Baby W!  I am very thankful that his parents allowed me to take these very important photos.  It was such a fun experience!  I truly enjoyed it!  Congratualtions to the new parents!  Now I will share some of my favorite shots from the session.  Enjoy!

The Gold Hope Project

I am honored to be an official photographer for The Gold Hope Project.  This project consists of a world wide group of photographers who have come together with one goal in mind - to help families who are fighting pediatric cancer to preserve their precious memories.  Do you know a family who has been affected by pediatric cancer?  Could that family benefit from having family photos taken to preserve precious memories?  If so, please visit The Gold Hope Project in order to have a complimentary photography session, which will include a disc of at least 10 edited images.

http://www.goldhopeproject.com/index.html

Valentine Photo Special

Newly engaged?  Special anniversary coming up?  Or just don't have any good photos of the two of you?  I am looking for couples to photograph!  Special deal of $75 for a 45 minute session, which will include a disc of 20 edited images!  Please contact me to schedule your session!  703-472-1721 or briehedden@msn.com.