wee bittles
kiddoes
teens
Is it too early to think of Christmas? Of course, it is. I mean, it’s only a few days before Halloween! We haven’t even had time to think about the Thanksgiving Day menu. But here’s the thing… I was hoping to encourage my clients to maybe not wait until the last moment before Christmas to have their portraits taken. Of course, I know my peeples… we are busy peeples… we only realize it’s Christmas because we received twelve E-vites for Christmas parties that all happen on the same evening, and the the cheerful older lady in the office is breaking out the daily medially of Holiday themed sweaters with matching Christmas Tree-shaped earrings.
(Was that kind of Scroogish of me to call out the “Sweater Lady”? Maybe. But that’s how I roll… taking down one sweet “Sweater Lady” one blog at a time. And for the record… all that coal that I get in my stocking every year makes for some nice fuel for yummy Post-Christmas Bowl Game barbecue.)
For my new clients:
Card Package: $250 (Individual) $300 (Family)
Includes:
session fee
35 Cards
$75 print credit
(Value: $300 to $375)
For my oldy, but goody clients who normally have a lower session fee:
Same deal, but I will waive my $75 Saturday fee, and I will give you a $100 print credit.
New clients, why do my old clients get special treatment? Well, because they do. New clients, if you want to have special treatment like my old clients, then hire me and next time you will be an old client too. See how that works?
This special is good until THANKSGIVING, for all sessions booked before THANKSGIVING. AND… it doesn’t have to be used for Christmas Cards, it could be used for baby cards, Thanksgiving Day cards, Festivus Day, Hanukkah, or whatever card event you would like me to create a card for. I can do that, you know, design cards… I’m good like that.
THE CHRISTMAS SWEATER LADIES COMETH
(Photo by Lisa Humes, available under a Creative Commons Attribution License)
BTW… as of today… it’s 58 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!
This is my little friend. His mommy won my photography service in a charity auction. When it was his turn to have his picture taken, he was full of faces. He asked it he could make a face.
“Of course!”
After years of working with children (since 1991), I have learned that sometimes little people need to get things out of their system to get what you want.
So Ms. Jenna photographed a few funny faces before we got to our happy face.
Don’t ya just love it! Little friends are so great.
When pink pastel ribbons won’t do for your baby announcements… here is nothing babyish about these baby announcements. … could easily double as Christmas Cards or Senior Announcements… or whatever.
Custom Design by Jenna Whidby Photography Copyright 2010
How could I pass up the opportunity to photograph a child who was in my house? (My children tend to run far far away when they see mommy break out the camera.) This is one of my son’s friends. We’ve know him since he was about 7 years old.
This is one of my daughters. She felt the need to jump on my son’s friend. As you can see he wasn’t as thrilled as she.
… it’s there. Grief. Just when you think you are okay, you are past it… it sneaks up on you and tries to envelop you and softly take you under.
It could come at the simplest of questions like, “Why did you feel the need to be there all the time when your sister was in the hospital?“ (Asked innocently enough by someone who still thinks that hospitals and doctors are alright.)
Internally, I began to seethe, remembering the day-in and day-out struggles of getting proper medical care for my sister… while she had some really great caregivers, all-and-all, if we weren’t there, we would sometimes find that she hadn’t been bathed, turned over… that the nurses didn’t answer the emergency call button because she didn’t speak up to ask for help (she had a trachea tube in her throat, and could not.) I could go on and on about the terrible things I witnessed over the 6 month period my sisters struggle for her life that ended… but it’s too graphic… it’s too violent… and it’s over.
Grief as it turns out can be one of those things that can hold you back, that keeps you from moving on, progressing, growing. My sister, my super hero, champion, and cheerleader would not want that for me… and neither do I. I’ve done a lot of soul searching recently, and I’ve had a lot of breakthroughs. I want to move forward. I want to be a great mom, photographer, wife, friend, businesswoman… and holding on the hardest part of my life keeps me from that. It’s time to resurface, take a deep breath and move on.
We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is Spirit (2 Conrinthians 3:18).
This past Wednesday, I attended an experimental workshop directed by Dane Sanders. In it, he challenged us. We were invited to take a hard look at ourselves, our beliefs, our perceptions. For me, it was an opportunity to explore what was holding me back.
I would like to say that I’m an excellent business woman and I know exactly what I am doing. In reality, all of this is fairly new to me. Because of my lack of experience, I think I was searching outside myself for help, for a model to mold myself into. Which in and of itself is not a terrible idea, but the how and why I was implementing these ideas were. Consequently, I think, I ended up having a business that was not really “me,” and this was causing me much anxiety.
So who am I? I am a be-loved daughter of the King, and as such, I would like to use my business to serve Him. Just writing this statement, fills my heart with such power. It’s much better than my old business model, I will copy how “so and so” does their business. If I want to be authentically me, I need to honor who I am, and un-apologetically so.
While Dane’s workshop was not a “religious” workshop, he and his partner, Nathan Neighbour, were quite excellent at cutting through all the emotional junk that we (I) carry around… thoughts and beliefs that limit our (my) true potential. For me, I was really burdened. This last year and a half, has been a time of recovery, and as such, I think I just tried to do my best. I was devastated after my sister passed away, and while I didn’t blame God for her illness, I wasn’t mad at God that it happened, I think I was just so shell shocked by the whole experience that I distanced myself away from Him. I couldn’t be His joyous servant. I didn’t feel like I had the strength anymore. And the more I kept myself away from Him, the more I forgot who I was.
But that was then… today I am proclaiming that I want to make my Heavenly Father the center of my business… and the center of my life.
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 2 Tim 1:7
I want my business not to be ruled by fear or insecurity, but by power, love and discipline because those are the gifts my Heavenly Father have given to me. So I don’t know how dramatically my business will appear or change, that will be a wonderful mystery, but if it does, the clarity of my heart and direction are the reasons for this transformation.
May God bless you and keep you.
Image above taken from Mission San Juan Capistrano, Jenna Whidby Copyright 2010