This photograph is nearly two years old now. This is my youngest daughter Stella at six or seven or nine months old, in a dress my mother wore when she was a baby, staring at me as I documented her awkward and determined attempts at learning to crawl. I sat on the hardwood floor of our rented townhome on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, I gazed at this beautiful creature as though I’d never seen a baby before – as though I was a tourist in Papua New Guinea drinking in a new and wonderful and rich and foreign land and its people – and soaked it in. I drank this little girl up, and swallowed hard with the full weight that came with the knowledge that this – that she – would be the last of my babies I would ever watch grow. Today, on the precipice of nothing...
may | a month without
If I’m being completely honest, the truth is that I’m tired of giving things up. In January this seemed like such a great idea – only having to keep a resolution for 30 days. But now, four months through it, I’m realizing that I’m giving up things too large for typical resolutions, and it’s a lot of work. Shopping, Facebook, sugar, junk food…all the things I’ve resolved to go without have been the right things, and I truly am better for choosing to be free of them for a month. But as I sit here typing this, on the precipice of a new resolution, I really just want to quit. Give up. Reassure myself that four months is a valiant effort and to be proud of what I have done and that it’s okay to say enough is enough. Which is exactly why I’m not quitting. Why I’m not done...
love is a place | on finding – and holding fast to your why
I’ve owned a camera since 2008, which I suppose means I’ve been a photographer for 4 and a half years. In that time I’ve been asked why I became one more times than I can count. People don’t ask that question because they are curious, but – in all honesty you guys – because it’s what matters. It’s been a resonating concept in everything I’ve done, and every person I’ve sought advice or guidance from since I decided to pursue photography as a business. I’ve read about finding my why on blogs and in books, and have been consistently motivated to dig deep. To have a purpose. To do things for a reason. To start with why. And to make it visible in everything. A month ago – in a gorgeous lodge in Colorado – I came back to my why. I wrote it down and forced myself to be accountable to...
great stories give life to greater stories | the don’t give up project
“A good storyteller speaks something into nothing. Where there is an absence of story, or perhaps a bad story, a good storyteller walks in and changes reality. A good storyteller doesn’t just tell a better story, though. He invites other people into the story with him, giving them a better story, too.” ~Donald Miller | A Million Miles in a Thousand Years I read Donald Miller’s book months ago, and the moment I put it down I began composing a blog post about it in my head. But this page sat blank. Empty. Story less. I didn’t know how I was ever going to put into words exactly how the book changed my life – exactly what it meant to me. What it still means. I still don’t know how to put it into words other than to ask you to read it for yourself. Because some things can’t be...
