These are some images I dusted off from a while ago. They are from Monograham’s grand opening. If you have not checked out this little boutique, you must! It is filled with the most delectable, unique paper products, books, jewelry and various other artful sundries.
I’ve always wanted to name a blog post that.
And, I feel like I left the last blog post unfinished so here’s the second part.
I just want to clear up one little thing. I have, for a long time now, considered myself a photographer in the sense that I can take consistently meaningful images. But being in business as a photographer is a whole different wild animal. Like a wild animal from a different planet.
The only way for me to have success as a photographer in business is to go at it like the little steam engine that could. And I wasn’t doing that. I committed to taking the best images I could, but I didn’t commit to being the best business person I could. And I’m not talking spreadsheets and business cards. All of that’s important but I’m much more concerned with building something that people want to be a part of. I want to be in the business of giving emotions. Of exchanging ideas and building relationships. Of connection.
And up until now, I was holding back from all of that. Because it’s like walking a tight rope across Niagara Falls when you fully commit to something. You put yourself out there for all to see – knowing full well they might just see an Esty faceplant.
But if I keep letting fear get in the way, I’m just going to be that girl that takes good pictures. That’s not enough for me. I want you to create with me. I want your trust. I want to give you more than pictures.
Let’s make memories, shall we?
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It sounded as if the world was falling down.
We rushed to the front door to see what was happening.
Hail. The largest hail I think ever in the history of time.
And all I could do was sit at the front door and watch my poor car take a licking.
The sun was setting as fast as the hail was falling so I couldn’t see the window shatter. It wasn’t until my sister and I walked out of her house, as soon as the coast was clear, that I saw my shattered back windshield and a large crack in my front windshield.
I laughed to myself in that anxiety-laden-bordering-on-crying kind of way. I attempted to contact a car repair shop but, not surprisingly, they were kind of busy and couldn’t get me in before my sister and I were leaving in the morning to head back to the Twin Cities.
And so we headed back to the Twin Cities the next morning with a jerry-rigged plastic back windshield – crime scene still intact. In other words, glass shards covering the back of my car, because what domestic vacuum cleaner cleans up broken windshield?
It all started to unravel once we hit 60 mph. Our makeshift plastic windshield, attached with duct tape, was set on taking up with the wind, probably to some deserted tropical island. But it wasn’t going to go without a fight. My sister, straddling from the front seat, grabbed hold of the plastic to avoid a glass shard tornado.
Confused looks hidden behind intact windows skirted past our hectic scene.
I took the next exit and filed into a gas station that had one of those communal vacuum cleaners. We cleaned up the glass and threw away the plastic windshield.
Our fear of not having a back windshield was totally unfounded. The rest of the ride home was back-windshieldless, calm, breezy, and full of laughter.
I feel like my life has been a bit like this lately. I want to get somewhere but obstacles keep arising, or what I think are obstacles. And I keep overthinking and trying to jerry rig my way out of it. But the truth is, obstacles aren’t meant to be covered up. It’s time I embrace the obstacles, clear the rubble and get on the road.
My biggest obstacle? Myself. Up until today I went back and forth on whether I am a “photographer”. But today, I’m throwing a coming out party and you’re all invited. I am a photographer. Now that that rubble is all clear, I think I’ll get me a convertible and get to cruising.
This post (watch the video) shattered my world last night. Please watch it if you can at all relate to the last two paragraphs of this post.
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I planned a surprise birthday party for the husband the other weekend. He had no idea. As in, “wait a second I’m not going to a massage I’m actually going to be hanging out with all of my friends at the bowling alley” kind of surprise.
God, I love surprising people
Oh, and Bay View Bowl is fantastic. I mean, bowling shoes in highlighter colors?
And then we ended the day with a sunset walk.
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