We've had some milder weather the last few nights which has been quite welcome.  The rain that was forecasted for our area didn't develop and we've been able to get all of our shoots in so far this week with two more to go.  It's been a little tiring I have to admit and I'm looking forward to the weekend when we just have sales sessions.  I've been getting home after 9pm every night so the days have been quite long and I haven't had a home cooked meal for some time now and it will be at least Saturday evening before that happens.



 

Two sessions in and 4 more to go this week.  We've managed to avoid rain so far although yesterday started out pretty rainy.  It cleared by the afternoon and we were able to go ahead with our plans.  It was a great session too and the pics are going to be pretty amazing.  Today's session is for a softball player so we will be going to a local high school field as well as a rustic park for her pics.

I returned home yesterday after a brief visit with my mother and family.  Rather than focus on her illness and all that comes with it, I'll just say it was good to spend some time with her, talking and even getting to see her laugh a few times.

Today kicks off a very busy week as we have 6 days straight of photo sessions plus we have a number of sales sessions scheduled for the weekend as well.  Somehow I have to find the time to change the upper A arms on my truck and do some other maintenance.

We recently launched our new website and I'm pretty happy with it.  It still needs some tweaking and content added but I like the overall design and it's going to do well for us I'm sure. 

Well, it was only 91 degrees during last night's shoot but by sunset it wasn't too terribly bad with the slight breeze we had.  I might as well get accustomed to it as we have 6 straight nights of sessions starting on Sunday and the entire week is suppose to be in the 90's.  We have 21 sessions scheduled in the next 30 days, the busiest we have ever been and we aren't even into Fall yet. 

Here are a couple images from when we were at St. Louis.  These were taken at Union Station and the model was from New Jersey.  She had never modeled before this event and did a real nice job.  Click on the images for a larger view. 

Two straight evenings of shooting in near 100 degree heat and heat indexes around 110.  That'll make you sweat a little!  I probably dropped a few pounds thanks to Mother Nature but I get a brief reprieve today as we only have consultations scheduled for this evening before getting back outside on Wednesday for another session, followed by more consultations on Thursday.  Next week is our busiest of the year to date as we have sessions scheduled for each day, Sunday through Thursday.

I'm planning on going to St. Louis on my birthday, this Friday, to visit my mom, who is still in the hospital but appears to be more stable and may be moving to a rehab facility soon. Hopefully she will be able to get strong enough to go home in the next couple weeks.  Naturally, she would be more comfortable there.

It's been a tough week or so with my mom in the hospital.  The good news is that she is no longer in intensive care but she's at the point she likely won't be able to care for herself any longer.  Her lungs and heart aren't up to the task any longer.

It's hard being across the state from her.  When I spoke to her yesterday, she told me to work on the things I needed to do, that there is nothing I could do for her by being there except provide some comfort, which others are doing for her.  That's my mom, more worried about her kids than herself.  She has been a big supporter of our business and has an immense curiosity about it.  Always asking questions, sharing her "concerns", praising us for what we've accomplished so far and now it is that b that business primarily keeping us from being with her more.  I guess I would be the same way with my kids but I'm just thankful that I have a mom that has been so supportive in all I do.

In this last week filled with emotions and stress, I began to think about what I really am accomplishing right now in my life.  Our business will never be a Fortune 500 company, it will never make us millionaires and it won't be something we pass on to our children as they have no interest in it.  So I thought to myself, "What am I accomplishing with it that is anything more than additional income for retirement"  Is it really worth the time and effort, the loss of sleep at times, or the loss of time to do other things we wish to do?"  I'm clearly materialistic and need money to purchase all my toys and the income provides for that.  But the answer came to me two nights ago when I was photographing a young lady who drove two and a half hours to our studio.  She was almost 6 feet tall, very slender, shy, and appeared a bit awkward.  After hair and makeup, she looked fantastic.  We put her in high heels and she came out of the dressing room looking like a newborn giraffe trying to walk for the first time.  I talked to her a little about posing and after a few snaps of the shutter, I showed her the back of the camera results.  You could see her eyes light up, seeing how great she looked and then she relaxed.  It went on to be one of the best sessions I've ever had, and I really needed it.  I went into the session not feeling well.  I really didn't want to do any photography that day; I just wanted to go to bed at 4pm in the afternoon. 

I realized that day that this is how I am impacting people's lives.  It's not like I'm helping orphans in Africa or troubled youths in the urban core, but I'm making people feel good about themselves and providing their parents great images of their children, images they will cherish.  People value what we do and are willing to pay us well to do it.

I also realized what a bad job I did recording our kids lives growing up and all that is all the more reason to help people document this special time in their children's lives.  So, yes, it is worth it, even though it has a cost.  And yes, I do like the money aspect as well. 

It was nice to have three and a half days off my regular job to do some things I wanted/needed to.  Much of that time was spent on business as we had our first fashion shoot related to the partnership with the boutique we are now working with.  We met with the store manager and she styled three of our models for the shoot.  We all got together again last night and shot for nearly 3 hours out on location.  We had a great sunset and I'm looking forward to seeing the final edits. 

We have a very busy week with 4 more shoots scheduled and another fashion styling for 4 models at the boutique.  Our plan to increase our work over the summer appears to be working and fall is just going to be ridiculous it would appear.