To put it mildly, the past five weeks have been a whirlwind. I used to be prideful about my busy-ness. When I had a session every night I felt like a high roller. Like I had made it. Once you get there, however, you realize it’s not necessarily what makes you successful. Maybe it was having children. Maybe it was getting a taste of what a balanced life felt like. Or maybe it was just plain burnout. But I’ve redefined what I consider successful, and that is not it. So, when I tell you the craziness that has been my last five weeks, it’s not out of a place of pride but out of a place of asking for compassion. These portrait sessions have been on my plate for a bit. I went into this season telling myself I would turn portrait sessions around in no more than two weeks. I wanted to keep my “editing list” manageable and not overwhelming, and I put in systems, processes, and hired help to make that possible. But five weeks ago, I took a vacation with my husband’s family. Bookending that vacation were two weddings the first weekend and three the next. I rolled into shooting portrait sessions 4-5 nights/week for the next three weeks with weddings every weekend in between, and then, I left for Nashville to shoot more portraits and a wedding. I returned to shoot another wedding here, and that weekend we took over watching my cousin’s two kiddos (ages 6 and 7) while they went on an anniversary trip. My normal work hours were nonexistent trying to keep up with these four sweet kiddos, and while we had a BLAST, there was basically no work to be done that whole time. My definition of successful now does not include shooting so much I can’t keep up. It doesn’t include sitting at my computer until 2am trying to get caught up on everything. There was a time where I had to do that. I had to put in the work. The sweat. The blood. To get to the place I am now, which is a place of balance. Successful now is getting the work done and doing it with a 1000% effort to blow my clients’ minds followed by just as much time spent with my family. Making memories and cuddling my sweet littles. Getting rest because, I don’t know if you knew this, but I’m also about halfway through my third pregnancy. When I’m not getting that balance, I don’t feel successful. Honestly, I feel over-committed and like I’m letting my clients down.
Why do I say all this? Because I want you to know I’m not purposely hoarding your photos on my hard drive. I genuinely am getting to them as quickly as I possibly can. While I LOVE your images, the time it is taking me to return the edited, finished copies of these combined with the fact that you aren’t getting your own spotlight blog post makes me feel like I’ve tarnished your experience, and for that I am so so so incredibly sorry. I ask you for some grace as I write this post and share four portrait sessions in one. The time it takes to write a post is at least an hour…sometimes two. Then, my assistant spends another hour or two prepping that post. Getting the images put in, proofreading my hot mess of a brain dump, doing all this behind-the-scenes SEO stuff to make sure Google likes it. Long story short, I’m condensing these four sessions into one post because I don’t want you to wait for your images any longer, and this way, I could get the whole process done faster and get your galleries to you today instead of a week from now.
The reason I have probably overexplained this is because this is not my norm. This is not what people have come to expect from me. This was a brief season I am going to work hard to not do to myself again so I can continue to meet the expectations I have set for myself. To my clients that have been so patient, THANK YOU!!!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, from the bottom of my soul. This is not going to be your experience going forward, I promise. To my team, THANK YOU guys for killing it and working so hard. They have truly done their part. Each and every one of them, and they have done it beautifully, efficiently, and timely. It just got bottlenecked on my end.
I’m working hard to get caught up, and if you’re still waiting for your gallery from me, it is coming soon, my friends. As soon as I possibly can!
In the mean time, I have a variety of portraits for you here. A newborn session, a 2 year old session, a fresh 48 session, and a maternity session. Two of these were at my house, one in the hospital, and the other at Arrington Vineyards in Nashville. I love that there is such variety here, and you can see a little conglomerate of lots of different types of sessions I have gotten to shoot over the last month!
Isaac Archer’s Newborn Photos
Lachlan Moore’s Second Birthday Photos
Ava Howard’s Fresh 48 Photos
The Eversons’ Maternity Photos
I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel…I shoot anywhere! Click here to contact me with any questions you have about pricing or booking! If you liked what you saw above, go ahead and follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see my daily updates of the latest sessions!
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