Hidden Gems

Travel Tuesday with a twist – Saturday I had the blissful opportunity to spend some time playing in secret gardens decorated with lavender, gorgeous dog woods, intricate architectural details, and historic box woods. The woman I was working with is such a joy. We spoke of history, quirks of life, the beauty of the earth, and the NEED to be yourself. So let me first rewind to the consultation for a moment. In choosing a location which represented her, I first asked what were some of the words she would use to not only describe her personality but what she wanted to portray in her images. Some of the words were: Courageous, Strong, Natural, and Real. This woman embodied all of that and to my surprise so did this location. The very old brick, the 100 year old trees, the hidden pathways and tall grass. Everywhere you turned you progressively lost touch with knowing you were in Virginia. You felt as though you had traveled thousands of miles away from all the stress of life and the only feeling you were left with was peace. Which brings me to another point – the adventure of finding who you are as an artist. This journey can take many years  and this past week has propelled me further and faster than the past 10 years of my pursuit of a photography career.

I have been fighting to be someone who could be easily adopted and integrated into the established photographer networks but that can work against you in so many ways. In the session over the weekend I realized it’s ok to be a little rough around the edges, it’s ok I’m not religious but believe there is something pretty big out there, it’s ok I like to walk bare foot and roll in the dirt. It’s ok my sense of humor is INCREDIBLY dry and not always interpreted the way I mean for it to. It’s perfectly ok I’m a little awkward and try to curb that with self deprecation. It’s ok I’m overly opinionated and STUBBORN but love unconditionally even when it may not seem that way. It’s ok I may not know everything about photography but I’m getting thereand I don’t mind sharing with anyone who asks. All those imperfections make me – me and the journey to accepting who you are as an artist is challenging but so worth embracing. This is only the first installment of my journey as I will continue to grow with every shoot.  So while I will not be sharing the portraits from this weekend I will share with you the intricate grounds of the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church. This location had such beautiful imperfections Please enjoy. xoxo!