Find the light

I had the best time yesterday shooting Valentines Mini sessions with a wonderful friend. Tania from Isabel and Allen Photography is an awesome photographer and a wonderfully sweet lady! We have been friends since college days when we waitressed together and we both found our ways to photography through different paths. She has been an awesome role model as I have taken the leap from hobbyist to professional. I cannot thank her enough for her advice and encouragement!

During a couple breaks we had some fun forcing each other to the other side of the lense...something that neither of us loves but should do more often. While taking my picture (which I acted like a fool and made crazy faces and did anything I could think of to distract from taking an actual photo...) Tania jokingly told me to "find the light, girl!" A phrase we use often in our minds as natural light photographers. Every session, every pose, every "turn your head just a little bit" is in an effort to find the perfect lighting.

But I love that, today as I am looking at these photos of myself that that phrase is being whispered in my ear from my heart as I am allowing myself to see the good instead of focusing on the negatives. There are so many physical things that I dislike about myself...don't we all have those? I know we do. I hear my clients say it often..."Oh I love that photo, but look at my hair, yuck...but I really need to lose 10 pounds...but I hate my smile...but you can see my [belly]..." And then those small, meaningless flaws take our eyes, and our hearts away from the big picture. From the children surrounding us, or the spouses who adore us, or the strength we have, or the gorgeous setting where God has planted us. Can I encourage you, friends, to find the light. Look at your picture as a whole and focus on the parts that really matter, then let everything else fade into the background. (I am reminding myself here, too :))