Today's my first blog post in over three years. I opened up this blog in 2010 to bring you in deep to all my emotions. To write down my thoughts and show the world what rings in my head everyday.
Unfortunately, all I wrote were sad things, things that - 3 years later - did get better.
So now I'm going to use this blog to showcase the thing that woke me up. The thing that brought on a wave of new emotions. That thing is called Photography...
Just a week ago I was sitting at home wondering how do I pay my bills with "happy"?
Then I met Ariana. She was in a panic because her daughters 1st birthday was only five days away and her photographer had an emergency last minute. She is an event planner, a tow truck driver as well as an amazing mother to little Sophia.
Another little bit of information about Ariana is that she has a brain tumor. Her worries were that this may be the only birthday she gets to spend with her daughter and therefore it's either go big or go home.
Before I go on with this blog post, I have to show Ariana's AMAZING work! She was busy as a bee, running around making sure every thing was nothing but perfect and trust me - it was!
Below are a few things she put together but let's not forget the Clown/Magician, Popcorn stand, Photo Booth and Build a Bear workshop!
Meeting Ariana was an answer to some questions I was asking myself lately. I think over the past few months I felt like I wasn't creating memories, I felt like more like I was JUST taking pictures. Like I was the girl with the camera, not the photographer. I know, "suck it up!"
but when I showed up that day and saw the set up, I couldn't help but smile. Every little bit was absolutely perfect. Then I met little Sophia for the first time - She was shy at first. Looking at the girl with the camera, wondering why I kept sticking it in her face and gripping onto her mother as if she will never let go and sometimes she really didn't.My job at events is to capture moments but also stay out of peoples way. FYI: If you ever see a photographer in a weird pose on the floor for no apparent reason at all...Don't move out of the way and don't ask questions. We get enough weird looks as it is but I promise you were conjuring up something special.
So the more I stayed on the sidelines and paid attention to every moment between Ariana and her daughter I could see that she never took her eyes off of her. As if every thought was about Sophia, as if all she wanted to do was explain to her how much she loves her and how special she is but that she was too young to even know what she was talking about.
That's when it hit me hard. I realized that I'm not just the girl with the camera, that I'm not just taking photos of a one year olds birthday party. I realized that I am capturing this moment, right here, right now. Where every word is said through my photos. That Sophia will grow up to see what a beautiful person she has as a mother and that she is loved by an amazing woman. That maybe one day she will hang my photos in her home with her own family.
So with that being said - I owe this blog to Ariana and Sophia. To waking me up again and making me see why I chose this path.
Despite the fact that Sophia may never know who I am, it makes me happy that I gave her the opportunity to hold onto this memory of her mother forever.
Here's to many more birthdays to come...
