The Little Things

I'm sipping coffee and still have sleep in my eye.  My  husband had to work all night and I'm still exhausted.   The dining room has almond milk and crushed Cheerios all  over the floor though I just swept and mopped less than eight hours ago.  My three year old is standing at the table yelling, "Train track, train track, train track!" about a million times over and over again.  My one year old daughter is sitting in her high chair with peanut butter from her chin to her forehead yelling  two words, "Stop it!"  in an effort to squash the never ending train track chant.   Every few minutes he stops the train track chant to yell, "FIVE MORE MINUTES!!!!"  It's the first time she has said "stop it".  It's a tiny moment but a moment that will never be repeated- a first.   A moment so small, another wouldn't even notice it.  A moment that could be easily lost; little sister standing up to her big brother, a toddler argument.   These arguments will no doubt get more intense as they get older.  I make a mental note: remember this morning, it was a great one.

I met my husband though a friend and fell instantly in love with him.    While I was pregnant with my son, I flew to California for the baby shower and wanted to surprise my husband with maternity photos.  I searched online for two months and saved up to afford the photographer I loved. I spent several hundred on three images.  Just three.    Those three images changed us.    They were incredibly gorgeous.   The photographer was incredibly talented.  It was the first time I understood photographers.  He didn't just capture a moment, he created a moment.  He manipulated the camera in such a way yielding results much like the vision in his mind and artistically manipulated the image to create emotion from the viewer.  He was an artist in the truest form.  I was amazed that a few images could bring such emotions to my manly-man husband.   I remember the moment I gave the images to my husband, it was a great one.

A lot of people ask why I became a photographer or how I became one.  I guess there are many answers. I didn't get a degree in photography, I didn't know that I wanted to be a photographer since I was five.  I bought a camera and through manuals, online mentoring and classes,  learned it.  I'm still learning, I hope I don't ever stop learning.  But I didn't register as a business because I learned my camera, I did it because I love the process and understand the little moments are the pieces that form our future but at times get lost in the shuffle.  I'm not here to be the best photographer.  I didn't start a photography business to have a million fans on facebook.  I didn't start a business to be famous or make a bunch of money.  I started it because I'm a tired mom of two amazing kids.  I, like many others, can get caught up in the process of getting dinner to the table on time instead of stopping to appreciate the small things like the moment my daughter learned she can fit her entire hand in her mouth (Totally awesome by the way!).

It's easy for me to remember the big things- when I broke my arm in high school and had to walk across campus with tears down my face and blotchy fake tan lotion on my legs to get to the nurses office, when my husband proposed and it was so windy I couldn't hear him and still have no idea what his speech was or when my son first hugged his little sister and poked her soft spot but unless I write it down or take a picture, I can forget the little things like their first argument...as adorable as this morning was.

It's simple; my goal and my why are those small moments remembered.  A simple image generating emotion for years to come.

I feel successful if I give your family an image that says, "Remember that moment? It was a great one."