Nothing is Original

I found this through Feather Love Photography and it spoke true to me. As an artist, I struggle with the idea of inspiration versus copying, the concept there is nothing that hasn't been done before but always having the desire to create something that's my own, never seen before. Regardless, to me there's no point in analyzing where the art (or in my case photography) came from, but simply celebrating it's existence. This quote was just able to put it into more eloquent words for me.

Hello, I'm back.

For those of you that have followed me for awhile, you know the journey I've been on the past year and a half. Living in Tucson, getting married in Flagstaff, moving to Asheville, being involved in a canopy tour company, getting an adorable puppy, starting a photography business, trying to find the balance of living and work, watching my sister get married, moving to Wrightwood and becoming partners for a second location for that canopy tour company, and now trying to adjust to a new life again and grow a business in one of the most photography saturated areas of the country. It's been a whirlwind, and in the midst of it I've lost this blog.

Truth is, I needed a break... I needed to be quiet, to internalize some things, to not fake interest or inspiration, to get through the winter, to be okay with where I'm at. Now that I've had that time, I'm beginning to miss this blog and I'm ready to be back. The community I've found here is wonderful, as BridalHood said today in her post, and I've found there's an overflowing goodness of inspiration and support, something I've really appreciated as I struggled to follow my passion and believe in myself as an artist. I miss the conversations through comments, sharing things that stir something inside of me, weddings that overflow with simple love, small talents that are waiting to be found, things that resonate truth to me. I miss hearing from people all over the world that it resonates with too.

I hope you all have been doing wonderful and enjoying the simple things in life. Here's a glimpse of what my last couple months in our new home has been. As you can tell, it's been a quiet winter of a time spent with my two boys. But it's been good.

Help for Japan

So heartbreaking. Fellow photographer Sarah Rhoads has created an online gallery selling a selection of her photographs with all proceeds going to the disaster relief in Japan. Follow this link for more details on how you can help.

via here

Being a Photographer.

I posted this on my photography blog, but since it's about struggling for words it's a pretty good description on why my posts have been lacking here. Moving has been hard.

The words haven’t been coming to me easily for awhile. It may be the move, the long winter, the new speed of daily life, the lull in photo sessions, the homesickness for a home of where I’m not even sure anymore, or the desire to get out and see more than what’s around me. Whatever the cause, I’ve felt myself drifting further away from being alive. The kind of alive where you’re excited for the day and beyond stoked about the things you’re doing, creating, imagining, living. I now find myself struggling for words, in a simple reflection of how I feel. If I feel uprooted in the new place I live, if I’m discourage that I’m not overwhelmed with clients, if there’s been snow outside consistently for the past month and I don’t even want to go outside anymore, what do I write about?

Instead of losing inspiration and dwelling on the things that I think are wrong, I push myself to do the opposite. In the whole scheme of life and the different adventures that are inevitably taken, the rush of events and the unstoppable passing of time, I as a photographer have the gift to do one thing: find the beauty, joy, peace, and meaning in a single moment and freeze it. I make time stop, for less than one second. I capture it, and it’s mine. It may be the intimacy of two people in love, the joyous welcoming of a new life, the precious moments shared between a family, or simply taking a step back from my life to see how wonderful it really is and capturing a piece of it… in this case the most important piece of it. The piece that is a person whose love I may never have the ability to understand, and who believes in me with everything he has. It’s those things that remind me of why I chose to write this as the story of my life. This is what I do, and I love it. I’m a photographer, and that’s inspiration enough.

from here.