I set a goal recently to update the blog twice a week with fun photos and photog nerdyness. So here is my first attempt! After attending WPPI 2013 in Vegas this March and meeting a crazy ton of talented photographers, one common theme that has resonated with me was the idea of ALWAYS having a personal project to feed your soul. As photographers we get swept up in the hustle and bustle of work and the creative rut of the same type of sessions. By allowing ourselves to have a personal creative outlet we are not only keeping our sanity, we are feeing our inner artist. That piece inside us that makes our work what it is.
Being a believer in Christ, when I think of “a personal project that feeds your soul,” I don’t think of things that benefit me. My heart automatically thinks of how I can help others. Helping others feeds my soul. My dad would always tell me when I was little, “I know the meaning of life that everyone is always searching for, and it’s easy. We are here to help others and those less fortunate than we are.” When I was young I would roll that off my back like it was nothing. That was a whole lot to comprehend as a little one. But now after coming home in March my wheels have been turning non stop, WHAT CAN I DO to make a difference.
The week I was in Vegas my friend Whitney, director of City Without Orphans, contacted me hoping I’d be home in time to capture their adoption at the courthouse. Little did she know she was an answer to my prayers and planted a seed that has been growing in me the past few months. My parents divorced when I was 7 years old and my dad was killed when I was 13. From those two huge life events, I have always stayed clear of the court house at all costs. It was a place of pain and bad memeories. But being apart of their adoption of their amazing daughter, it’s like the courthouse transformed that day into a beautiful place of new beginnings.{You can see their blog post here.} A few days later I contacted Whitney and told her that I would love to work along side the families that utilize her organization and adopt a child, by providing a ‘Forever Family Session.’
For my 26th birthday my mom gave me my completed baby book. A place where she documented all of my firsts, coming home from the hospital up to high school graduation. Some foster or adopted kiddos may never have photos to look back on or have childhoods they rather not remember anyways. When a child is adopted into a family it is THE SAME feeling of bring a child home from the hospital. I want to be that person to capture the joy of that moment. It is pure, beautiful, raw, real…it is God breathed. I am calling these Forever Family Sessions. These kiddos might have come from somewhere else, but it is now clean and new. A fresh start with the family that has chosen to love them forever.
Today, I have the opportunity to go downtown and work along side of Fresno County Department of Social Services and take senior photos for our foster youth. This is such a simple way to give these seniors something to be proud of and a photo they can cherish forever. Senior photos are a rite of passage in a way. It’s signifying that you accomplished something all on your own. You deserve a minute to SHINE! I’m so thankful for these opportunities and that God has placed it on my heart to love on these kids and families in a way I know how. That is a Holy Discontent.
**May is Foster care awareness month. For more information, please visit: www.citywithoutorphans.com
