On Saturday I attended an event called HELP PORTRAIT. I participated in this last year while living in NC… and knew after that experience that I wanted to do it again.

After finding out through the Help Portrait forum’s that there was one locally. I immediately signed up.

I just think it is such a simple way that we can serve… while it may not seem like much to some, it really is a blessing to others. I for one know how difficult financial situations are right now. My husband has been without a job since August. It is hard to find work… and even though he has a masters degree, it still will not happen over night. For us, this year… and really the past few years, we could not afford to pay for a photographer to take our portraits. Thankfully through my profession as a photographer, I have friends who give me the generous hook up… and that is the ONLY way we could of done it.

So for those who do not have connections in this way, its hard to get a portrait done of the family, without feeling the pressure of cost…

I love being able to just give this to people… and honestly if I had more of me & more hours in a day, Id do so much more.

While at Help Portrait this year, I had a young man helping me set up a backdrop… I had no back drop materials, since I got rid of most of mine before our big GA move… so he hooked me up with what he had. As I looked at this backdrop set up though, I just thought to myself how much cooler it be to just use a slate gray wall I saw right by my area… It was the perfect size for smaller families and individuals/couples…

So even after having my area set up….

I dared to ask…

“Can I use that wall instead?” – I felt like a loser lol…

Seriously, I had this heavy weight that everyone in the room thought I was an idiot. But as the day progressed it really was awesome. I loved the look much more than the fabric backdrop. I loved that it was different than anyone else in the room. I loved that I was able to take a plain spot, that no one else thought of – and make it special.

Daring to think differently really can be hard…

I think we should all try it :)

At the end of the day, another photographer came up to me and just encouraged me – letting me know how creative I was to use that space… It did my heart good to hear :)

So here’s to an awesome weekend photographing for Help Portrait.

*Btw: The mom who is expecting in one of the photos – was being induced that night! I thought she was just adorable… and said a prayer that her labor would go smoothly…

I tell you, I feel so blog neglectful lately. I just honestly do not have time to do it right now.

I took my camera yesterday to church and got a fun random shots from worship. It was our Pastors 25th anniversary of being Pastor at this church… and there were all sorts of celebrations. My card however is still in my camera awaiting attention ;-) – it is blog worthy – but will have to wait.

Yesterday between the church services, a nap, making a loaf of bread and batch of donuts…I also took my friend Nichole’s maternity pictures. Shes due with baby #8 this week!

I spent my evening last night processing those…

Then this morning ill head to town to photograph more BOBA pictures (almost done! – for now) – come home, feed the kids lunch & then its off to meetings at the church for COR…. a chiropractor apt… and then, maybe… ill have time to get some house work done and dinner served, before I start the editing process again and organizing like 10 disc I have to burn :) – it sounds really busy… but it isn’t terribly busy… its just time consuming – leaving me with little time to blog about life.

So that being said… hopefully after today – ill have some time to schedule a few post ;-) but for now… you can check out the session I did yesterday on my photo blog HERE.

:)