I tell her she is beautiful, and ask her to feel it from within. That is where it is. Inside. The glory God has given her as a woman. I turn my head and and adjust the backdrop that will not cooperate with me. I fluff the chiffon and tape up the velvet.

When I return there is a small but valuable tear sliding down her luminous cheek. I pause and frown. “What is it honey?” I ask. But I already know. I know because I feel it too, as has many if not most women on the planet. We don’t believe it. We don’t embrace it. We’re beautiful, and we don’t know it. She stutters to try to explain, and and I hold her head in my hands and pray for her and speak words of blessing. This is easy because she is mine. She is my Katie. I tell her who she is, who God says she is, and  that it is okay to be beautiful. We don’t have to be afraid of it. It is our glory as women. It is our gift. Our softness, our inner passion. Our resolve to love.

We change the music and we laugh. I see her shining now. My Katie. It is okay to be beautiful. It is how God made you.

Congratulations, Justin.

I love this image. Caught at an unexpected moment and angle, it feels intimate and beautiful. This is one of my elegant brides from this last year. I could choose so many photos of her. She was so free and fun to photograph. Who knows what she was thinking at this moment, as she was breathing in the last moments before her marriage to Jonathan. Stunning.

Enjoy the photos of sweet Eli. ~

No, I didn’t find a treasure chest buried on my farm, even though this looks like the classic pirate’s booty you see in adventure movies. This.. is my dresser top. Okay, before you start making all kinds of rash (but probably true) judgements about me and my lack of orderliness, just know that it doesn’t always look this bad.

You see, my dresser top is a source of contention for me, every day. Every day of my life, I walk past that dresser top with things strewn everywhere. Usually it is the jewelry items I have worn in the past week (or month), my camera, picture frames that I hate but still keep, a spool of thread and a needle for mending buttons, important receipts, props from my last shoot, and dust, oh the dust. My heart cringes every time I see it, no matter what form it is in, and I think a few not-so-nice things about myself and go on with my day, feeling defeated before I have even started. Organization is my weakest character quality, and it is especially hard when I grew up with a super organized mother and sister. My artistic flair took me in other directions, and most of my life, I have dreaded even trying for fear of failure.
So, last night, I took every single item out of my jewelry box and drawers and decided to start there. I don’t think I have thrown one item of jewelry away since I was a little girl. It was actually a very nostalgic experience looking at things that were my mother’s or grandmother’s. It was also a little like Christmas seeing things I had packed away (for lack of knowing what to do with them), that I had forgotten I had. About two hours later, ( yes, two hours) this is what I had for a dresser top.

It was actually worse than this, but this is as vulnerable as I can get right now, okay? Immediately I did what any normal girl would do. I called my mother. “I need your help” I pleaded. Before I got two sentences in, she had devised a plan and a day to implement it. That’s my wonderful mom to the rescue! “Just leave it all on top like that”, she said, ” and we will have a fun day putting it all where it is supposed to go”. She even had a plan for the unwanted pieces with a church swap that is coming up for the ladies.

I will let you know how it goes! I think this is the beginning of a whole new world for me. Starting with my dresser top.

I took some photos while it was snowing on Friday afternoon, and then again Saturday morning when the sky was cerulean blue. I found my heart overwhelmed by the dramatic scenery. I asked God to help me to capture it if possible, but more than that, to breathe it in and enjoy it. I have often felt jealous of other photographers who get to travel and photograph beautiful scenery in faraway places. To quote photography icon and author Joe McNally from his book The Moment it Clicks,  ” If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff “. I love that quote. The bottom line is that capturing God’s creation is at the center of my joy in photography, and I want to see more!

However, I felt thankful Saturday morning as I walked in the glory, that I had not (up until this present time) been a world traveler. I found my heart could not contain the splendor I found in my own backyard. I felt so small and incompetent as I fumbled through my bag, disapproving of each of my lens choices as soon as I placed them on the camera body.   It was a humbling experience, as I once again offered up my heart, and my camera to God,  and I laid down my need to perform for the approval of others. That is something we artists have to do on a daily, or even hourly basis. Anyway, this is what came of my time in the glory. Thankful for my own piece of  ”faraway” that God gave me this weekend just out my back door.

I never had to pose them. We just gave them a few props and let them go. They did  the rest.

I pray many blessings on this beautiful and sweet couple and am so thankful I get to shoot their upcoming wedding in March.

Enjoy their sweet pictures~

Their mom, Kelly, is one of my dearest friends. She is wonderful through and through. She is a veterinarian, and therefore an instant hero for me. I always wanted to be one when I was a kid, but lacked the chemistry grades in high school.  She has both beauty and brains. You can’t beat it. There is always a potpourri of different animals and rescues at her place. She has a heart of gold and the animals always seem to find her. I am always at home there myself. It is a good place to be.

Enjoy the beautiful Anderson boys.~