drill this into your head from the time you begin kindergarden…”Believe in yourself! Accomplish your dreams!”. I remember being told that when I was in primary school….all the way through Mrs. Douglas’s english class senior year. However, at the time…. I had no clue what my dreams were. I remember sitting in Trig with one of my close friends and she decided she wanted to be a national geographic photographer…. and I said “Oh… and I’ll be a professional scrapbooker!”…. and I was serious. At the time I liked 3 things….Yearbook, scrapbooking, and crafts.
Before you judge me and feel bad for me because I seemed like a nerd in high school, you need to know that I started a business selling these “crafts” and I made good money for a 16 year old! (But we won’t explain that business right now….that’s for another blog post!).
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In high school I had a few things that I was passionate about. I liked AP Art…I enjoyed designing things in InDesign during yearbook class when I should have been working on the Sports section and I also loved making scrapbook pages. I liked designing the layout of the page and then adding in little details… but I had no idea how to make this into a career. Teachers said to “follow your dreams” but I had no idea what my dream was to begin with! I liked all of these little things that really didn’t go together….but I kept pursuing my love for design. My room was filled with little things that I had made, my carpet in my bedroom was permanently stained from multiple accidental paint spills and I constantly had burns on my fingers from my hot glue gun. I surrounded myself with what I loved… in hopes that one day it would turn into a dream.
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Last week Michael and I went home for a day to celebrate his dad’s retirement and we stopped by my house. My younger brother Corey wanted to show me his newly decorated room and I was amazed at what I saw. Corey’s room used to be MY room when I was in high school (I gave it to him when I graduated…easiest gift ever!) Corey’s room has always been awesome since the day he moved into it. The stained carpet that I left behind has been replaced with a putting green. A REAL PUTTING GREEN. Corey and daddy took up the old carpet that I had destroyed with paint and replaced it with astroturf. Then they cut out holes in the floor for the cups and added flags. Wa-la! An indoor putting green. You see, Corey has 3 passions… 1. Golf 2. Flying airplanes and 3. 4wheeling. Obviously 4wheeling is hard to incorporate into a bedroom but if he could find a way, I’m sure Corey would park his 4wheeler in his closet.
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Corey’s new room is filled with his dreams…every inch of it. There are pictures of Kodiak planes and coast guard rescues. (yes, I know airplane names… I DO pay attention when you talk about these things Corey!) On another wall hangs his shirt tail from his first solo flight and under his desk he has a map of the different air spaces in Virginia. He’s surrounding himself with his dreams and I KNOW that one day… he will figure out EXACTLY what he is called to do…. and he’s going to love it. Seeing his room was inspiring. He’s so young…. and yet has so much passion for his dreams. It’s easy to get excited about something but it’s not as easy to REALLY pursue it and make it happen. You have to be surrounded by it and inspired to keep going and that’s why I love his room….. that’s why I love my new office!…. It inspires me!!
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So you many think that this is just a filler post because Katelyn didn’t shoot a wedding this past weekend… but it’s not. This is a really special post dedicated to my little brother because he’s awesome and he’s going to do amazing things one day… and I’m proud of him!!! (He’s going to HATE me for this! haha)
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Happy Monday! Be inspired!
Oh where do I begin? This wasn’t just another wedding for me. This was a legacy KJ Wedding and I have been looking forward to it ever since my first email from Danny and Megan!
I’m really excited about this YouTube video because I know that it resonates with ALL photographers who photograph PEOPLE!!
Have you ever walked into a client experience and realized “oh wow, this is not what I was expecting?” ….