Archive for the ‘Regina- personal’ Category

I couldn’t resist posting these photos that my sister took of me with Enjolie. As I’m posting them I feel like it was just about 5 days ago that I was spending the day with her BIG sister Ellyana waiting for Enjolie to be born. And really, it feels like a month ago that I got the call at 5am in the morning that Elly had been born a full month early. You know that feeling you get as you’re falling asleep and you jerk awake because of that falling sensation? I often feel that way about time. I jerk back into the present feeling like the days are evaporating and I’m missing it all. My life mostly feels like one big blur.

I’m putting so much of my energy these days into sinking down into this very present moment. Not spinning with what still needs to get done. Or ruminating over what I should have done. Or things that are causing me anxiety or disappointment. Just taking a big deep breath and thanking God for this very exact moment. Because really, in this moment I am happy. It’s the slipping out that causes the jerk back reaction- realizing that I was missing it. My sister is raising funding right now to go serve in Kenya. It requires all the concentration I can muster to stay present in this very second with each of them and soak up the time and not loose it because my energy is leaking out into the sadness I am anticipating in the future. Focus. Breath. Moment. Thankful. Content. Happy.

P.S. Best two books I’ve read related to this quest are Slowing Down to the Speed of Life and 1,000 Gifts.

I’m so fluttery to be featured as a guest blogger for Inspired Home Office. Jen requested that I write an article about Organizing Your Personal Digital Photographs and the article is now posted on her blog. She also interviewed me for article with several phone participants where I spoke to their questions. If you would like to listen to the interview, email me and I will send you the link! Happy sorting!

Sue opened the back of her Suburu with several puppies that had just been flown in from Texas to be fostered here with New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue. I instantly pointed at the small one on the right with a shorter softer snout and warm brown eyes. I fell in love with that girl in a red-hot second. India is the most affectionate snuggle bunny of a puppy I’ve yet to meet. My heart screamed out, “I WANT TO KEEP HER!!!!!” But the next morning I woke up with the Sentes Family on my heart. I had a feeling in my gut that I had just met their perfect puppy. So I texted Julia. Next thing I know, Rand was on my doorstep to meet her. Later that day the whole family came. By the end of the week the adoption paperwork had been filled out and the home check done. Julia texted me to say when she saw India she felt she had met her soul mate. India is going to grow up with Bella and Ayla, so adored and so well taken care of. It is the fairy tale ending we hope for every cattle dog that gets taken into New Hope foster care. I will admit that tears are running down my face as I write this. People ask me how I can love these pups so much but then let them go. I foster puppies in tribute to my first cattle dog, Obadiah. I would be a different person in a different place if not for him. I hope to connect as many people as I can with their own canine soul mate, making the world a more intimate and joyful place. Every puppy I let go is another I can save. If you are interested in fostering or adopting a cattle dog, please contact me or hop onto the New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue website for details.

My sister dashed out for a bit of holiday shopping and I got my nieces. I couldn’t resist a 10 minute photo shoot but WOW was I missing another pair of hands! I set Elly up with a bit of Kipper on my computer while I photographed Enjolie. Then piled them in the chair in front of my open front door for the light but they were COLD so added an extra pink blanket. Enjoi arches her back when sitting so I was literally holding her on the chair with my foot and making all kinds of sqwaking noises to get them to look at me. Phew. I was panting and sweating by the time I finished. The photos were a super fun Christmas surprise for our family!

Here’s a little gem I found at a thrift store this week…a vintage camera bag! I love it! Just right for a little round-town day bag. It fits my Canon EOS 7D with my favorite 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. No battery pack or flash, but I don’t need either for my own personal shooting expeditions. I always carry an extra battery though and a bit of lens cleaning supplies. What is your latest creative venture? Swamped? Me, too. Let’s both agree to take a few minutes today to get out into the fresh air and do something creative.

Wedding and baby portrait photography has been my main gig for over 11 years now. In between shoots, office work, editing, blogging, consultations, bookkeeping, album orders, emails, etc. I try to squeeze in a few other things I love. Yoga (poorly practiced this summer), botanical photography, gardening, cooking, MAPP (a little non-profit I started to support a single mom trying to make ends meet) and fostering cattle dog pups through New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue.

 These brilliant and sweet pups just need a safe  transitional spot between a traumatic situation and a new loving forever-home. They typically stay with me for a less than a week but I fall in love with each and every one. It is hard to let them go, but for each one that gets adopted there is another that needs a one-way ticket out of a bad situation. I am happy to be a short-lived safe haven.
If you are looking for a furry companion, peruse the New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue website. They are always in need of a few extra volunteers to foster, transport pups hither and thither, coordinate volunteers, etc.

Introducing my newborn niece: Enjolie Helena Moore!!!

How to describe the aching love I have for my niece? Her big sister, Ellyana is the twinkling little star in my life so I had an inkling that my heart would be again stretched beyond my imagined capacity. Isn’t it amazing how our hearts can just stretch and stretch?! I have not the words to express my feelings, so as usual, I just shoot. After several failed attempts of placing this infant in super creative vintage props which resulted in emphatic indignant wailing (i.e. crying), my sister and I decided to try just ONE more idea but take it outside. Who knew? Enjolie just needed some fresh air. Gorgeous session with my gorgeous sister and sweet family. Maybe, just maybe, there will be a few more photos of this little one.

Click here to schedule your own Studio Portrait Session and I’ll see you soon!

It is high time I post some recent photographs of the light in my life: my now two-and-a-half-year-old niece, Ellyana. I spent the afternoon with her recently as her momma (my little sister) was in labor with Elly’s baby sister: Enjolie Helena. I felt so helpless, so much anxiety over my sister being in the hospital going through so much pain with no assurance she or the baby would make it through. All I could do was shoot and shoot and shoot. Here are a few of my favorite images from that very magical day.

(Enjolie will be making her Recherche Blog debut shortly!)

“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hate, may I bring love;
Where offense, may I bring pardon.
May I bring union in place of discord;
Truth replacing error;
Faith, where there once was doubt;
Hope, for despair;
Light, where was darkness;
Joy to replace sadness.

Make me not so crave to be loved as to love.
Help me to learn that in giving I may receive;
In forgetting self, I may find life eternal.”

-St. Francis of Assisi

I think it’s fair to say as a general rule that photographers don’t care to have their picture taken. This is VERY true for me. But my mother, Lancia Smith, shot a few of me with my niece, Ellyana, yesterday with which I am ecstatic! Thank you, mommy, for these images. They are precious to me in so very many ways. This girl has me completely wrapped.

And another??? Stay tuned for newborn baby sister, Enjolie, who arrived on the scene last night!!!