2019 Recap

This year was more varied than I expected, which was so fun!

I continued with several family sessions throughout the year, some at my old favorite and some in a new-to-me park. I just love capturing families and drawing the everyday into warm memories. I already know several tricks to get children of all ages to give me and their parents cute smiles and even some begrudging 10- to 13-year-olds to have fun ;) There is such joy in seeing families interact and love together.

Cherry Blossom Minis

Cherry Blossom Minis in 2019 were a delight, especially with my amazing clients who walked through the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler to get to our location (I'm still considering 2020 minis, but it's definitely a lesson learned/note for this year’s scheduling!)

Headshots

In 2019, I opened up my services to include headshots, and had three truly wonderful sessions with Lisa, Ramzi, and John.

What I love most about these is how collaborative they are – we take a full 30 minutes to capture your look or brand, and you give me ideas on what that means to you, or different poses you want to try. Together, we show off your best self to show the world!

Weddings and Engagements

After Cait and Daniel’s light and glowy engagement session, I was lucky to be the photographer for their perfect wedding in the summer, which was such a cool experience!

I was also able to capture both maternity and newborn photos for a dear friend and her husband. These sessions were SO fun, and I loved capturing the deep family love in this beautiful milestone in their lives.

Plus, in early Fall, I did my first session in front of the US Capitol for an old colleague and friend - he couldn't stop whispering "I love you" to her throughout our time together.

Military Promotion Ceremony

This year, I captured my first military promotion ceremony, which was an incredible honor. The timing happened to work perfectly, and we met at the Air Force Memorial to witness the ceremony with family from across the country.

Styled Shoot

I participated in my second "styled shoot" with wonderful fellow photographers who were so kind and helpful to one another. These are just some of the pictures I shot with the fabulous couple and group.

Looking to 2020

I've been slowly working on a new website to release this year, with a style I absolutely love. Moving everything over is taking some time, but I hope to wrap it up in the next month or so. Some test screens here!

I also expect it will make for a more streamlined client gallery flow and booking experience later in the year.

I'd like to pick up more headshots and even get an update for myself, but generally I'll be continuing to focus on families and couples (engagement, anniversary, just because). A client also put a bug in my ear about pet portraits and so that's something I'm exploring a bit.

There will be more blogs for you, bouncing between sessions, personal, and tips for clients! Check out these two for things to bear in mind when you're in front of the camera, and what to bring to your sessions.

Cherry Blossoms

As has become usual, the seasonal weather is unpredictable, which does impact the cherry blossom blooms and timing. I'm thinking about offering mini sessions again if there is enough interest, so let me know! They're beautiful when all the weather stars align, and so do require some flexibility on everyone's part. Also, I LOVE the cherry blossoms here in DC.

Some Personal

The gratitude journal gets a dust-off! (sound familiar? I tried for 2019 and didn’t make it very far, but so far so good for January this year). I have a daily reminder in my phone and it occurs to me throughout the day to jot things down in my phone - another plus, it's very portable!

I'd alluded to some health issues last year, and I'm relieved to say that they've since been essentially downgraded, for which I'm very thankful. Still something to manage, but the long-term impact is way easier. Alsooooo I have a new day-job which is very exciting! I do expect to be earnestly tired out by that, so will be scheduling a lot of work out ahead of time. My general rule of eliminating all after-work activities the first week of a new job has eroded some, because how could I possibly miss any of NatGeo's Banff Mountain Film Festival? But besides that, I'm working hard to prepare for and focus on the new company.

2019 was pretty cool. I'm ready to rock 2020! How about you?