She has also watched my entire photography journey!

So naturally, I was so happy for her when she and her beau, Micah became engaged!  I had a few weddings under my belt at that point and I secretly hoped that she would ask me to photograph her wedding!  Let me tell you, the day I received her Facebook message asking me to be one of the photographer’s at her wedding was epic!  I jumped, I hollered, I cheered.  I basically acted the fool.

Because I had never shot any formal bridals before, I offered to photograph her bridals for her gratis as a portfolio building tool for me.  When she jumped at the offer I did a little more jumping, hollering and cheering myself!  Abby is seriously one of the sweetest, godliest young women I have ever met and I absolutely could not WAIT to photograph her!  I must say, I was not disappointed in the least.

Be prepared to have a visual assault of beautiful proportions.  She’s that pretty.  Fer real.

And see this bouquet?  Yeah.  I made it myself.  First time EV-ER.  Not too shabby, eh?

Ah!  What a great way to start off a bridal portfolio, eh?!  Oh Abby, thank you so much for allowing me to photograph you!  I had SUCH a great time!  Be blessed, my friend.

And this is not only a sneak peek of a birth I’m going to be posting, but it’s pretty much how I feel when I can’t blog.  Yes.  I’m that corny.

Now let’s get down to looking at some pictures!

I’ve known Stephanie for most of her life.  Her effervescent personality and zeal for life has always been such a joy to watch.  She’s just always been a beautiful girl to me.  Always.

But I have to admit … she has never been more beautiful to me then when she was expecting her sweet little Jackson Monroe.  She just oozed complete joy and happiness.  Makes me smile just writing about it.  I was so excited to photograph her birth because I knew it would be like none I’ve ever photographed before.

And I was right.  She was a picture of beauty during the whole labor and she seriously had a standing room only birth!  HA!  It was one, big party welcoming this sweet boy that everyone was SO anxious to meet!

And I have to add … I had such a HARD time choosing just a few pictures for this post!  So as a warning … there’s A LOT!

One of my favorite birth pictures ever.

I absolutely LOVE this reaction!

Look at the expression after seeing her first grandchild!

Makes me tear up every time I see it.  So sweet.

And this one just cracks me up!

Tim and Stephanie, thank you for allowing me to photograph your beautiful moment.  You both are so blessed.

This week’s theme at I Heart Faces, like so many, totally excited me!  What usually happens though is that I get busy and then don’t remember to enter until 9:15 pm on Tuesday night.  Yea … I’m gifted that way.  Anyway, I’ve photographed many teens, but since I have two of my own, I decided I would rather use one of my own kids for this particular contest.  Then came the decision as to which one to use.  The smoldering 18 year old son that makes so many teenage girls swoon in his very presence (seriously y’all.  he’s that beautiful.) or the quirky, goof, moody 17 year old daughter who has oodles of curly hair.

Girls win.

Madgirl is my uber bright daughter who loves books almost more than breathing and has this wicked affinity (that I find totally disturbing) for math.  Clearly this gene was not inherited from her mother.  Pi{e} was meant for eating, not to be squared.  I’m just sayin’.

Anyway.  I took Maddie with me on a senior rain shoot one day and I could tell she was itching to get in the water, so I told her to go for it.  And so she did.

Seriously.  This picture just makes my whole heart smile.

If y’all want to see some more pictures of amazing teens, head on over to I Heart Faces for some FANTASTIC photography!!

p.s. THEE Jamie Delaine is judging this week, too!  She rocks, people!

The first year we had a BUMPER crop of squash – crookneck, zucchini and even one unknown variety – it was coming out our ears!  Our church friends ducked their heads and ran when they saw our mini-van pull up beside them.  We couldn’t give it away fast enough.  I was looking up recipes faster than I could cook them.  We had not planted the squash plants far enough apart from one another and we would have rogue squash that would hide from us and grow to gargantuan sizes.  Monk and I would absolutely roll when we would find one of these monsters that had quietly grown into Squash-zilla without our knowledge.  I would grate these zucchini beasts into 2 cup portions and freeze it for zucchini bread later.  We had a lot of zucchini bread that year.  A lot.

The second garden we put out managed to produce a manageable amount of squash and a beautiful crop of tomatoes.  Big, glorious tomatoes were EVERYWHERE!  Until the tomato bugs got to them and managed to eat giant holes in them in a matter of days.  I wanted to cry.  The bugs were so bad that year we finally just tilled the whole thing under.

We haven’t even put out a garden the last two years because … well… I was pregnant in both 2008 AND 2009.  But this post isn’t about my fertility so we won’t go there.  However, 2010 has been baby-free and we decided to give it another go.  I’ll admit, we’ve already started off on the wrong foot by putting the garden out almost a month late, but we decided if we used already established plants and not many seeds then we could have a pretty good go of it.

(These pictures are about a month old, but I needed to post them so I could give a new and improved update of the garden at a later date!)

There is just something about flowers and vegetables and seeds that just gives me such a thrill every spring!  Am I the only weirdo out there that digs this stuff?!?  Get it?  Digs?  Oh, I slay myself sometimes.

Even though we planted late, I have high hopes.  Especially for my herbs!

It blows my mind every year that something this simple can turn into something edible.  Just shows the glorious Creator that we have!   These are cucumber seeds.  I am hopeful that I will get enough pickling cukes to can some bread and butter pickles this year!

And every time we do this, I say to myself, “will anything really grow?”.  And it always does.  Well, most of the time.

We had some new help this year.  She dug the dirt.  Oh, the puns, the puns!

But mostly she felt compelled to conquer the slide.  The wrong way.  Because that’s how she rolls. Or slides.

I am always really impatient at this point.  I want to grow something … now!

And what could Fat Otis possibly contribute to the garden?  Do you really want to know?  It’s like one King Kong sized litter box for him.  He’s been sprayed with the hose a time or twenty-six.  Right after I planted some herbs next to the house he walked over and squatted like he owned the joint.  He was removed from the scene in a rather unpleasant manner.   I still can’t help but love him though.

Come on little tomatoes!  Grow!

And now all we can do is sit back, water and wait.  Water and wait, water and wait, water and wait.  Did you get that?

Just in case you didn’t …

it’s water and wait.

This photography business thing is hard sometimes.  Especially with a family.  Please believe me when I tell you I’m not complaining because I’m not.  I’m just learning balance.  Unfortunately I’m dragging you fine people right along with me while I’m learning this, so occasionally you have to listen to me think out loud.  Like now.

I’ve always felt that if you do what you love and your passionate about it then if will never ‘feel’ like a job.  I never dreamed in a million years that this business would take this much work.  (Delusional much?)  There’s so much more to it that just picking up a camera and taking a nice picture.  Especially when I feel so passionately about it.  I don’t want to just take a mediocre picture, slap my name on it and charge a few bucks for it.  I want to offer something that’s high quality and meaningful, not only to my clients, but to myself.    I want to put a little piece of ‘me’ into every picture I take and most of the time it’s wonderful!  And capturing other peoples memories and adventures and special moments makes me feel like a total rockstar!  And then…. sometimes it just doesn’t happen that way and the pictures are just okay.  And then I spend days beating myself up over it.  (It’s dumb, I know, but apparently I get some sort of satisfaction over this self-deprecating wallowing because I still haven’t learned NOT to do it.)  And in those moments, photography has ceased to be a passion and has now become just a job.

And in the meantime … while I’m either rockstar-ing out or wallowing and busying myself with how I’ve totally failed as a photographer and now it’s become a ‘job’….. my life begins to pass me by.

My ‘Other’ life.  My pre-photography life.  My most important life.  My family.

I tend to get so wrapped up in my photography business that I forget I have my own adventure to photograph.  I have my own special moments to capture.  Heck, I have my own personal practice subjects right in front of me and I don’t even notice.  Because it’s ALL ABOUT THE BUSINESS.  Or so it seems.  But God always has a way of bringing me back.  He always has a way of putting things ‘back’ into perspective for me.  And then I remember what a beautiful life I have right before my very eyes!  The passion comes to life again and once again I remember the reason why I loved photography in the first place.

At that point, the fact that I am MONTHS behind in blogging what I’ve been photographing just doesn’t seem to be as important as stopping and taking pictures of my own life.  My messy, chaotic, sometimes fun and sometime not-so-much-fun life.  And that’s where I am.  Whether you come to this blog to see my work or you come to this blog as my friend or you come to this blog because you stumbled upon it, I hope that it says to you that I love my family!  I hope that it tells a story of not only my photography, but my faith in God, my quirky, good humored husband and all six of my wonderful children!   I love what I do and I hope and pray that the Lord will continue to bless my efforts in it, but the fact of the matter is … photography is not my life.  It’s what I do and I AM passionate about it, but sometimes I’m just not gonna post about my latest session.  Sometimes I’m just going to post about my garden or my children playing with the hose or my cat, Fat Otis or my love of all things Target.

Because that’s who I am.  As a person AND a photographer.  That’s my life and I love it!  And because THAT part of my life makes me so happy and means so much to me it can’t help but overflow into my photography life.

It’s win-win really.  For me and you.

1. I’ve experienced 2 miscarriages and it’s a loss I cannot explain. She experienced 6 of them.  Women who go through miscarriage seem to have a secret bond with one another.  We understand that void and we remember those babies we were never able to hold on this side of heaven.  It’s an empathy like no other.  I understood Shelly’s losses and my heart ached for her and Jeremy.

2. Not once, but TWICE Shelly found out she was expecting at the same time I was.  I went on to carry two babies to term and she miscarried both of her babies.  It’s hard to explain, but it’s very hard to rejoice and be happy when you know that your friend will have empty arms when those same nine months are up.  While I was thankful to God for my own beautiful babies, I still grieved for her and her losses.

You have no idea how happy I was when I found out she was expecting again last June.  I use the term ‘cautiously optimistic” when she was experiencing morning sickness (always a good sign!) and was extremely overjoyed when she made it past that 12 week marker that seems so essential for expectant mothers in finally being able to breath a small sigh of relief (after 12 weeks the chances of miscarriage drop to less than 2%).  And her burgeoning belly was even further proof that this she would indeed have a baby in her arms come February.

But just as Shelly had predicted, Miss Shaylin had a plan of her own and decided to show up a few weeks early and made her appearance in January.  It was one of the single most emotional and personal births I have photographed yet.

After many hours of laboring, it finally came time for pushing.  And push, she did.  For two hours.

And then those 9 long months of waiting finally came to fruition…

And this moment pretty much sent me straight to the Ugly Cry.

What a beautiful girl you are Miss Shaylin!

I Ugly Cried at this sweet moment, too.

Thank you Jeremy and Shelly for letting me a part of your special moment.  God has certainly answered your prayers.

]]> http://www.michellemonkphoto.com/the-birth-of-shaylin-joy-denton-birth-photographer/feed/ 3 http://www.michellemonkphoto.com/hair/ http://www.michellemonkphoto.com/hair/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 15:31:05 +0000 admin http://www.michellemonkphoto.com/?p=185 This is the hair situation we’re dealing with these days.

If it weren’t so cute I could say we almost have a problem.

I am so excited and happy to announce that one of my very favorite photographers, Lyndsay Stradtner of Life in Motion Photography in Austin, TX,  has created a new website dedicated to helping expectant parents in finding professional birth photographers in their area.  Lyndsay writes this on the website:

“The International Association of Professional Birth Photographers (IAPBP)

was established to assist expectant parents who are in search of a professional birth photographer in their area.

IAPBP’s focus is on providing resources to expectant parents, photographers and other

birth professionals through education, understanding the birth process, support and respect for each persons birth choices.”

I cannot even begin to tell y’all how thrilled I am to be a member of this distinguished group.  Some of the best birth photographers (and in my opinion, some of the pioneers) in the country are on this list and what a pleasure and an honor to be listed among them!

This website will open up SO many doors that have been closed for so long to expectant parents.  I’m encouraged that this site will help people understand what birth photography is all about.   That it’s about catching those moments that are SO. VERY. SPECIAL. and yet seem to slip away as the years go by.  It’s about documenting one of the most amazing days in a mother and father’s life.  It’s about watching and photographing as God, once again, brings forth yet another beautiful miracle.  It’s about capturing life itself.

As the website gets going it is going to be an amazing resource.  It will also feature a different birth photographer monthly which I think is not only a wonderful window of opportunity for that photographer, but also a great way to expose others to different photographer’s styles and art form.  And who knows  …. maybe even I might get featured one day!  Wouldn’t that be something else?!  The very foundations of the birth world would be rocked by my crazy ramblings!

The website is www.birthphotographers.com Go check it out and let me know what you think!  I pretty much smile every time I go there!

1. It wasn’t near as bad as I was making it out to be in my head (Me? Snowball something in my head?  NEVER!)

2. Conscious sedation is a good thing.  A very good thing, my friends.  Even though I consciously remember nothing at all.  And I didn’t sing about unicorns taking me to magical palaces.  And I certainly didn’t rap.

3. I didn’t throw up.  By far, my biggest concern.  I do, however, remember waking up at one point and gagging.  They might have given me more drugs to shut me up.

4. I have consumed more ice cream in the last 4 days than I have had in the last 4 months.  My fat cells are multiplying faster than the speed of light.

5. Mother’s Day weekend was NOT the best weekend to do this.  I can hardly eat so I didn’t get to go to dinner.  I had canned refried beans as my Mother’s Day dinner.  Nice, eh?  I think I deserve a Do-Over.

6. Chocolate is totally edible after wisdom teeth extraction.  It melts.

7. I have been highly productive while sitting in my narcotic induced state in the recliner.  And my editing has never been better.

8. I’ve watched approximately 8 movies in the last 4 days.  Sweet Home Alabama twice.  Only because I was too lazy to change the channel.

9. Watching the Food Network when you are on a ‘soft’ diet is not recommended.  Because at some point even Foie Gras sounds good.

10. I don’t feel any less intelligent now that my wisdom teeth are gone than I did before.  Of course, that’s not saying much.

I’m hoping that I can keep this momentum going and really get into my blogging groove again.  I really miss it.  Part of my issue (as usual) is technological.  I get irritated when I look at my blog because it’s not doing or looking the way I want it to, so I ignore it.  Because we all know it has feelings and such.  I’m hoping to look into this issue more this week…. as in, possibly hiring someone to help me with it.  Hopefully, I can find someone who accepts payment in the form of cookies.  Snickerdoodles to be exact.

While I still have several births to post, I hope that in the meantime this sweet baby girl can tide y’all over.

Mmmm, mmm, mmm!  Love me some newborn baby!