The first verse paints a picture of a planet. Fully populated with what we can assume are humans (or maybe wookies). Seems normal. But something new is about to happen…You. You’ve just arrived into existence and they’ve all been waiting for you.

Now you’re here. You arrived. All wookie eyes are on you. What happens next?

 I Dare You to Move.

Wow. That’s powerful right? So incredible.

But wait there’s more!!

The next verse…

Welcome to the fallout. Welcome to resistance. The tension is here. Tension is here between who you are and who you could be… Between how it is and how it should be. I dare you to move.

You’re different. Let’s go ahead and say it… this world is full of wookies.
You’re a human that just came into a world of wookies (WTF? What am I talking about?).

Nobody likes or cares what you have to say–you’re different and the wookies don’t like it!

So, Jon Foreman is telling both sides of the story.

Part 1
You arrive. You move. You take the first step. It’s hard and it’s scary. You have absolutely no idea what going to happen.

Part 2
You will meet resistance. No one really wants to hear about this part. Change is scary and people don’t like it. If you start to do something different be prepared meet resistance.

Can you feel the tension? It’s between who you are, and who others have told you you should be. It’s between how things are, and how others say they should be. The tension is good. It means you’re on to something big. It means you’re trusting yourself and standing firm in what you know and believe.

Can you feel it?

What happens next?

I dare you to move.

Don’t let anyone drown out your voice. Trust your gut. Move.

Sharing a collection of some recent instagram photos, just some things that have caught my eye in my search for inspiration.

Have a great day everyone!

Rachael & Andrew live in Louisville, and we started their session at Southern Seminary, where Andrew is currently a student. Rachael and Andrew are one of the most truly joyful couples we’ve worked with. They just had the biggest smiles the whole time, and are so beautifully in love. So excited to share these images!

You know we love some warm, pretty light! There was definitely an abundance of it here

I absolutely adore the look on Andrew’s face in the image on the left. And Rachael’s grin on the right? That’s after I asked her to think about the day she’d be marrying her love. So adorable!

This one’s a little more modern, but I loved the texture of the building. Plus, Rachael’s sequined tank was pretty much amazing!

I hope everyone is having a great week, and enjoying the gorgeous weather! Check back tomorrow for a post from Chris…about wookies (ha-now I’ve got you hooked! ).

Love you all!

I enjoy the personalities of the judges, for one. It’s a fun show to watch. But one thing I love is that this show gives people an opportunity to share their voice. Beyond sharing their voice, it gives people a chance to share their story. It gives people an opportunity to be heard, and deep down, isn’t that something we all want? Everyone has a story to share, and while this is a singing competition, I don’t think that’s why people tune in. We tune in to hear about the odds people have beat to come on this show. The disappointments they’ve already gone through. For me, the audition rounds are far more exciting than the later episodes where the teams are already set.

I was watching a few weeks ago, and throughout the episode, there were several things that stood out to me as awesome parallels to both the photo business and just life in general. So here they are

1. Practice your craft.

This is so important! There comes this point when you know how your camera works, you know your photos are technically acceptable, and that you are “good enough,” and we maybe get caught up more in the tasks of running a business than practicing the craft. We’ve all been there! In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell asserts that it takes 10,000 hours to master a craft (I’m sure others have discussed similar theories, just one that I know of!). 10k hours! I know I can’t be anywhere close to that number on focused practice. And what if we practiced not only the craft of our art, but also practiced running a better business? What might happen? Even if you don’t hit that 10,000 hour mark, what might you discover along the way?

2. When you do something different, people are going to turn around.

This is a huge theme on the show. Nothing gets the judges’ chairs to turn around faster than when someone comes out and does something different. A different arrangement, and different tone to their voice, whatever. So true in life, and especially in business. And if you have a purpose behind doing something different, not just being different for different’s sake, people are especially going to take note.

3. Sure you sound just like the original, but the world already has one of those. Be yourself–an original.

It’s a common theme on this show. A singer comes out, and has practiced sounding exactly like whoever their favorite singer is. But that’s not exciting. The world already has an Adele. The world already has a Christina. So why would anyone want to listen to a second best version, when they’ve already heard the original?

You are the only one who can do what you can do. Figure out what that is, do it to the best of your ability, work hard, and things are going to happen. Are you waiting around, bouncing from workshop to workshop to convention to hear other people’s path to success?  Buying into the lie that people who are successful must have something you don’t? Why waste your time trying to be someone else, to do what someone else has already done?

“You’re unique and you’re special and you grab my attention just by being you, I’m not gonna mess with that.” -Christina Aguilera

Discover your voice, trust your voice, share your voice. No one can do what you can do. What if you took the time to look inside yourself?

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”-― Paulo Coelho, Alchemist

Be original. Find your voice. Go after your dreams. What’s stopping you?

The last few months have been an absolute whirlwind! With the holidays, the What If conference, etc., we are finally starting to get caught up on client blog posts Starting today, with Erika and Lydon’s elegant Nashville wedding from the end of October!

I have to start out with saying that I find it hard to believe that we’ve known Erika and Lydon less than a year. From our very first meeting with them (at Hotel Indigo under a FREEZING and dripping air conditioner), we’ve just clicked, and by the time their wedding came around, it was like we had known them forever. We are extremely thankful and blessed to be able to call them friends, and to have the honor of telling their story through images.

And I have to say, their story is pretty sweet! It was clear from the first time we met that they were truly planning for a marriage and a life together, not just a wedding. Which I love! Erika (who grew up in Kentucky) and Lydon (from Georgia) met through their small group at church here in Nashville. They are both super smart, and work hard and play hard! They are both golf fanatics, and Lydon actually proposed to Erika while they were watching a practice round for the Masters!

They just recently told us about a ski trip from early on in their relationship. After a few practice slopes, they headed up to the top of the mountain for a more difficult run. Lydon showed us a picture of them at the summit…him with a big grin, and Erika with what appeared to be a matching grin–but which we were informed was actually an expression of teeth-gritting fear. They made their way down the slope together, a huge act of trust for that stage in their relationship! And obviously, a stepping stone to the trust they share today

On to their wedding day! We had such a great time with Erika, Lydon, and all their family and friends. They really took every opportunity to soak up everything that was happening through the day, and it was such a fun and joyful day! And probably one of the most fun receptions we’ve ever photographed

I loved the classic black bridesmaid dresses!

Gorgeous flowers by Fresh by Carry Ann

I blogged this shot on the left in their sneak peek, but had to share it again! I think it’s one of my all time favorites. So much genuine emotion and excitement!

I also love this moment from the reception (at Old Natchez Country Club) during the toasts! So cute.

Ok I know I’m gushing, but I just love these two Best first dance ever!

The Jimmy Church Band definitely kept the party going!

So fun! A huge thanks to a few other vendors who made the day amazing, who weren’t mentioned above: Planning: Sarah Addison of Simply Stunning Events | Cake: Cakes by Shara | Videography: Focal Point Cinematic

Erika and Lydon-thank you so much for choosing us to be your wedding photographers! We are so happy our paths crossed, and to call you both friends. We’re so excited about all the exciting things you have coming up!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

So obviously, we’re photographers. That means we like taking pictures, right? Right. Sometimes though, it’s easy to get bogged down in the running of the business and everything that goes along with that, and forget about the joy that comes from shooting for fun, shooting personal projects, etc.

That’s a huge thing we got out of the What If conference, especially from innovator Dan O’Day. He had a lot of inspiring thoughts on the “creative workout” that can help us grow as artists. Creating images for ourselves is such a great way to get out of our heads sometimes, and it also gives a chance to practice more of our craft, which will in turn serve our awesome clients. It’s a creative workout. It’s getting out there, shooting something different, getting out of your comfort zone, ignoring the weird stares from people as you kneel on the floor to take a picture of a bagel, etc.

Returning from What If and getting back into real life was not easy, the same as any kind of “mountain top” experience. Your head is full of ideas and you’re pumped up, and you return to having to deal with the day to day things. And it’s hard. It’s hard to hold onto that, and find a balance. But the amazing thing about What If is that we had the tools to move past that, unlike how we felt returning from some other types of conferences. We returned with a plan. And with an amazing new community to support us. So after a day or two of spinning around in circles, we were able to move forward.

To clear our heads, one day last week Chris and I decided to take a day and explore, and shoot for fun. We decided to follow our bliss and see where it took us (fabulous phrase from innovators Whitney & Jesse Chamberlain!). So we started out in Nashville, with lunch at the amazing Star Bagel, which we had never tried for lunch It was amazing of course, and we were able to get some fun images! Just for us We then hopped in the car, decided we didn’t feel like shooting in Nashville that day, and decided to just drive. We took off towards Chattanooga, with a detour along the way to an amazing waterfall hidden in some fog covered mountains. We brainstormed and connected along the way. And we came home refreshed and ready to work!

It was fun to shoot at the waterfall, but quite honestly it was dark and a little gloomy, and although beautiful in it’s own way, I don’t feel like posting those today haha. I think I’ve had enough of dark and gloomy weather for a little while But I did want to share some of our images from Star Bagel!

This couple was intriguing to me. I loved the way he kept leaning in and paying attention to her.

I’m obsessed with these last two shots, which are Chris’s. I was a little bit of a camera hog that day though

What’s your bliss? Ya know…you don’t have to wait for the elusive “some day” to follow it

Just a little plug to end for What If Summer Session. It’s going to be July 23-26th this summer in Portland, Oregon. Chris and I will be there, we wouldn’t miss it for the world! If you’re a creative and want to know more, check out the What If website, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions about it! We’d be happy to share

Have a great rest of the week, friends!

Two things I love:

Taking pictures

Spending time with my BFF, Sara (well, my bff after Chris of course )

So getting to do both of those in one day? Awesome, of course! It was a rainy, yucky day, but we had a great time anyway! I couldn’t wait to share these two shots of Sara and her husband Paul–so, so sweet. I’m so thankful we were able to spend time with them today!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

What I didn’t expect was to go and have my whole world opened up. To find the inspiration to act on our dreams, and to even start having a dream. To get out of my own head and my own way. And maybe more than anything, to come in contact with 43 other like minded individuals who are amazing and beautiful dreamers who get where we are and where we’re going, and who I know will support us no matter what (just as we will support them!). I didn’t expect to go to this conference, and come home more in love with my husband. Seeing his confidence grow and his true personality come out, and hear him get excited about projects he wants to work on was so inspiring.

I didn’t expect any of it, but holy cow, I am so thankful for every single bit of it! I am so thankful to Jen & Steve Bebb for following their “What If…” to put on this conference, and for supporting artist-preneurs. And for the other innovators: Chris & Sarah Rhoads, Jesh de Rox, Dan O’Day, Whitney & Jesse Chamberlain, and Justin Lyon, for being an inspiration not just through words, but through their actions and the way they live their life. The honesty, humility, and authenticity of everyone there was so refreshing. And amazing…a word I keep using over and over, but hey, it’s true

And besides all that mushy stuff , we just had a dang good time! We talked and we hung out and we ate and we laughed and we talked some more. Chris and I are really kicking each other for not taking more pictures while we were there (realized as I was prepping these images that we don’t have any of us with other people! Boo!), but we just wanted to share a little bit of the crazy with you all!

Ok some of these are blurry. But that’s another thing I learned…it doesn’t always have to be perfect Sometimes, it’s just about the moment and the memory, even if the technical is not always there. And it was freaking dark, ok?

That’s all for today, folks Check out the What If Conference website, I’m pretty sure there will be info announced about future What If’s very soon! And I know we will be doing everything possible to be there

Off to chase some “What if’s”….

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”   –Seneca

Well, you might just do something to inspire yourself.

Just got back from an amazing week, and we will most definitely have more to share later.

What. if. ?

Too cute! I am due to post some new full sessions on the blog, so keep a look out for those coming soon I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that 2012 is treating you wonderfully!

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! I probably say this just about every single post, but we really do have the greatest clients. I was so overwhelmed putting this together and reminiscing on all the amazing shoots we’ve had this year, and the new relationships that we’ve formed. I can not think of a single thing I would rather be doing with my life Thank you all so much for making 2011 an AMAZING year, and for all your friendship and support!