This “sweet” moment with my son, Isaac reminds me to not take life too seriously. So what if at the end of the day he is a sweet, sticky mess, with goo all over his face, hat and mom’s pants!? The world isn’t going to come undone.  What really matters at the end of the day are the ones we care about.  Whether it is with my husband, a friend, a sister, a brother, I’m thankful that someone caught us in that special candid moment being ourselves.  This is what I love about photography. 

This passion stirred inside of me for years.  Stewing and stewing until I finally figured out what all the stewing was about.  Before having Isaac, I had the privilege to teach High School drawing and painting for a couple of years (BA Art Education, BYU.)  What an awesome job!  The good relationships I made with students laden with the constant hum of working, laughing, talking, not working, and brainstorming, were all swept under the rug when Isaac came.  My life was abruptly filled with a new baby where the only sound I ever heard was either crying or complete silence in the rooms of my house as Isaac slept.   I itched for that constant connection with students and co-workers, and I itched for art, yet I knew that living off of nickels and dimes would be worth it down the road for both me and Isaac if I stayed home with him.  I gladly took the place in life as “stay at home mom.” But the itch kept itching…  I was paid to do a few pieces of artwork here and there for people, but that wasn’t helping me altogether.  Hmm, could the camera I bought right before Isaac was born have anything to do with it?  Could it be both the itching problem and the remedy?

It wasn’t until Isaac’s {only} studio portrait experience did the light go on, in like an explosion sort of a way.  I tend to think of myself as an easy going, go-with-the-flow type of a person, but on this particular day I was extremely agitated.  Isaac wasn’t having the photo shoot at all (nor the extremely scary bear and flower that the lady kept putting in his face to “smile”) and I walked away with way too many pictures that were hardly decent and outrageously priced to say the least! 

Although I have always enjoyed taking pictures, this is where “photography” started for me.   I attended an incredible workshop on creative how-to’s with digital photography; I stayed up way too late on way too many occasions to read up on photography forums on-line, how to edit a certain way, what this or that meant, and so many more things related to photography.  My reading material on several flights was photography books.   Now months into this experience, I have been blessed with incredible clients, and portraits that show their personality.  I am humbled by the trust and support everyone has given to me along this journey.  It is with this that I hope to find these special moments in your lives; to capture the soft kiss of a child, a smile under all that “teenager” tough stuff, a look between mom and dad that tells how, even after 3 or 4 straggly kids who melt down their energy level to a pulp, they wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Hopefully the pictures I take will bring you back to that particular moment in time and make you feel grateful for all that you have just as I am so grateful for all I have. 

Jeannette