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an engagement session at our house! you’ve seen these two enough to know that they have many sessions worth of images in their home. But Sheana said that the only room they didn’t have any was the kitchen. Hence a kitchen engagement session for their part 2. see part 1 of their REAL engagement session here. and HERE and HERE for their other fun model shoots. and if you scroll down to the bottom…… you’ll see a lil video i cooked up. sorry for the corny pun.
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.jpg) .jpg) I feel that there are 2 types of people in this world: those who give themselves entirely to what they love most in this world and those who are scared to say Yes (yes to life, yes to failure, yes to ‘all eyes on you’ type situations) you get what you give. period. I consider myself a ‘YES’ girl. I listen to my gut. I don’t waste my time with things I don’t enjoy. I don’t let guilt take over for saying ‘No’ YOU are the keeper of YOU. Your thoughts, actions, and motives. Simple as that. Feeling spread too thin? Reevaluate. Make a list of how your time is spent. Actually do it. Now look at your list. Is your life in balance? or are you spending WAY too much time thinking about what you should be doing? I love to use my friend as an example in the simplest sense. She loves to scrapbook. And maybe she doesn’t actually love it, but she started for one child years ago and now has 3 children along with massive piles of supplies lying around and a massive amount of guilt for not finishing. My advice? toss it all out the window. Decide what is really the most important thing (like owning the fact that you take the time to have your children photographed at all) You don’t need a scrapbook to prove that you’re a good mother. And you don’t need to spread yourself thin to prove that you’re a worthwhile life. God gave us all talents and we should use them to make ourselves happy. (driving the point home from what I said in this post) For me to maintain balance, I need to constantly reevaluate the way my time is spent and if I’m still on the path I set out towards. Stacy, get to the point. My point is: retreat. reevaluate. only spend your time on what makes you happy. When you find what that is: IMMERSE YOURSELF. Last weekend was my first PP of N board retreat at Mahoney State Park. I just got on board it’s 10 year commitment train. BEYOND thrilled to get involved and be head of publications and advertising. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such great minds… everyone on the PPN board is not only an outstanding person, but also a forward thinker. This crazy world of photography is changing so rapidly it’s essential to remove all the distractions and retreat. The thought of meeting at a cabin in the woods was fine. I get it. And I thought maybe we’d do some sort of team-buliding exercise (I was told to bring water shoes… which as it turns out was just a mean trick to play on a new kid). Instead what we did was allow the time of togetherness to inspire us. It’s tradition to have a BBQ after meeting day 1, hike up the tower at sunset and take pictures (we are all photographers, after all. I mean, please. of course there are cameras everywhere), and to entertain each other the rest of the evening with all of our uniqueness. Meeting day 2 was long. I’m not going to lie. But listening to everyone’s thoughts and opinions, I couldn’t help but notice a sense of pride and unity among us. Every single person on the board wishes their compadre success. There is no competition or greed. We share a love for the art and there is no greater feeling than that of ‘one-ness.’ If you’re not yet a member of PPN, I urge you to do so. It’s only $23.50 a month. With your membership, you get to come to Fall conference in September [in OMAHA this year! and I'm SPEAKING!!] and Winter conference in January [your registration is included in your membership], not to mention some of the best friends you’ll ever have. But of course, you get what you give. I hope to bring my own flair to the table as my time on the board progresses. I also hope that all the photographers of PPN may be purer, braver, and stronger for my influence. excited to get in neck deep, as I love to do.
I love it!!! I couldn’t have said it better than myself…and this was just your first meeting! The board is destined for greatness with your skill set and most importantly your pure, raw, emotional passion for making this industry all encompassing, inspirational, and full of great talent. The thing I love most about being on the board and involved with PPN is that competing photographers come together for the good of the whole. It’s unique yet it’s so right for our creative mind set. We’re so glad to have you in the family and can’t wait to make more memories with you! Yay for PPN! It was my first board experience too… And my first cook out and traditional tower climb. I’m thrilled to have been a member of PPN for over 10 years, and I’m still learning and making new friends. Thanks, Stacy, for this wonderful post. We’re all so fortunate to have an organization filled with kind, smart, motivated and lets not forget TALENTED photographers! You get what you give. Amen to that. ???? funny thing about personal photo challenges is that it’s personal… you only have yourself to blame if you forget a day. I take photos every single day with my iphone… sharing most on Instagram… but the challenge I presented myself with was to take a photo every day for a year with my SLR; with the SLR being the challenge. And I have to confess…. I missed a day. Two, actually, so far. One was lost on digital media (so not my fault…luckily I had taken an iphone shot of the same thing. so i shared that instead). The other, I just plain forgot. And was damn near ready to forget the day I remembered I forgot, too. The point is… to learn from yourself. This is teaching me mindfulness, creativity, artistic growth (if that’s not the same as creativity), and most of all, that I never regret hauling my ‘big’ camera anywhere. It’s nearly always worthwhile. I think a ketti bag is in my future, though. I’ve come close to dropping her in a puddle too many times to carry her around naked much longer. But here are photos from last week… oh, what a week it was, too.
a norwegian moment in the studio. it looks different now… always switching things around until I’m happy with everything and ready to share.
homemade chicken pot pie. It’s been raining a lot and just seemed like the thing to do.
fun time with this young model in the studio… contemplated using this image for my business cards… I’m stacy EYEdeus, after all. too corny? yeah… that’s what I thought…
GALA was Saturday night… but this is the day we [my friend deb and I] tried on dresses.
Winston… one of my favorite dogs adopted from SCLP to date. he has a snaggletooth. His new family got him in for a pet pic package Saturday…
the highlight of my week: Professional Photographers of Nebraska board retreat at Mahoney State Park. I’m new to the board and in charge of publications and advertising and I’m so excited about it!!! SOOC
nature walk on Sunday at Mahoney before saying farewell…
such a sweet session.
board meeting…
interesting collection of items found in my purse. including a stray eyelash
lake wanahoo it was finally nice enough to open the garage door!! and here’s some bonus images… we tilled up the garden. but who are we kidding? our whole yard could be a garden right now. the construction is still underway and we often park in our yard like all classy people do… ; )
In Wahoo, we’re very fortunate to have a beautiful lake to visit…Lake Wanahoo. It’s pretty new… just 2 years maybe? But we already have some eagles that have made their home here. Two baby eaglettes have been born, so the game and parks had an eagle watching event this morning. SIP, along with S.C.L.P. and our coffee shop C&C provided a cookie/cocoa buffet. We buzzed through 4 carafes in 2 hours. It was freeeeeezing towards the end of the morning. Fun event overall.
If you’re obsessed with Madmen like I am, you know who Midge Daniels is. But in case you don’t, here’s a little about Madmen, itself. It’s a historical drama series on AMC about the advertising industry on Madison Avenue in New York in the 1960s. Donald Draper (played by Jon Hamm) is the main character, but every character is spectacular and complex and wonderful. I love the costumes, hair, make-up, creativity, and the ‘proper’ way of life (even though the show isn’t the most moral. people still had manners back then). The ladies never left the house without lipstick. Now more about our muse: Midge. She is the first woman who appears on episode 1. Her character lives in a studio apartment, she is an artist, and is played by Rosemarie DeWitt. Don, who is actually married to Betty Draper (played by the stunning January Jones), knocks on Midge’s door at all hours looking for late night company on many occasions. And even though, again, this show doesn’t always portray good values, I am still inspired by the characters, themselves. Lucky for me, i have a good friend that kinda looks like Midge. AND my friend even happens to be an artist, herself, who let me post her beautiful photos here for you to see. here is what Midge’s character looks like on Madmen
season 1 (above) and in season 5 (below) Midge’s apartment
if you’re old enough, click |HERE| to see Midge and Don Draper on Madmen Season 6 premiers THIS Sunday, April 6th on AMC! ************ also, this is my first shoot in the new studio…
thank you, Miss X… you’re very beautiful, indeed. Here is little Lawson, who you’ve seen before on my blog reel, and his big sister Jovi whom I’ve photographed since SHE was a little babe. I adore this family so much. They are genuine, trusting, and seriously grateful for photography. Lawson is now 2, but has had 5 surgeries in his short little life. I remember meeting him for the first time… they drove to Wahoo from Lexington and it was cold and rainy. We could hardly have our photo shoot outdoors but our whole house was a gutted construction site. We decided the only thing to do was get creative to say the least. And it’s one of my most memorable sessions to date. Since that rainy day in 2011, I’ve photographed Lawson about every 6 months. He may be a little bit of a challenge, as he can’t sit up on his own much, but Sadie (his mama) dresses him so well and he always seems to fall asleep mid-session (which is ADORABLE). He is such a sweetheart and I’m honored to have captured his first 2 years. click |HERE| to a little story about him on NTV news.
these pics were taken last October when he was 18 months old.
Stacy, You are such an amazing person. I am soo glad to have you in our lives. Strays gather at Saunders County Lost Pets [S.C.L.P.]….even knocked up ones. Fluffy came to us just before St. Patricks day out to here with kittens. (I’m holding my hands far out right now. you can’t see me, but I am. She was really really pregnant.) So what do we do in this case? Let her enjoy her very last pregnancy and motherhood with the excitement and thrill of the miracle that is childbirth…. or kitten birth in this case. Next stop for her: the vet. Everyone has been so anxious waiting for Fluff’s kittens to come, though. It doesn’t happen everyday..ok, so it totally does….but not usually in ‘captivity’ and certainly not at SCLP But yesterday they came. Four so far… here’s a little video I made after the first wave. I was at stupid yoga and missed these four actually being born. : ( boo Perhaps we’ll meet some more yet? All the cats shown, FYI, are up for adoption…including the newborns and their mother as soon as they’re weened. We plan to name at least one kitten…. April.
the moral of the story: have your pet spayed or neutered please! Bob Barker says so.
a couple of times a year I get asked to photograph very large families… this one had 19 cousins! all adorable, of course. here are a few of my favorite images from this family reunion. shot at Prairie Creek Bed & Breakfast near Walton,NE It’s beautiful in the summertime… i wish we could have had our shoot then, but SO very thankful that 8″ of snow fell the day after this shoot!
organized chaos…
I am so grateful you said yes to our huge group, Stacy. You were fantastic and the images are beautiful and treasured by all of us. |
Thanks again for such a memorable experience!
Cute!! If they had their own cookbook, these would be some great pics for it!