Simply Me…

Let me just get this out there right from the start…I struggle being in front of the camera.

One of the greatest challenges of being a portrait photographer is making your clients feel at ease enough in front of your lens, to simply be themselves.  It is also one of the sweetest rewards, when for a split second your subject no longer fears the camera, but slowly recognizes that they are free to be themselves in all of their glory.

My goal is to conquer my own fear and learn to let down my hair a bit and be vulnerable and real in all of life’s circumstances.  Yet, I still struggle in front of the camera, but because I have a son and one day grandchildren that I know will want to know who I was and what I looked like, I decided to just do it.

So when Rachel was in town a couple of weeks ago, I took her up on her offer and decided “why not?!?!?”.  My hopes were that she would only shoot a couple of shots, and I really didn’t want it to be about my face, but more about the details.  That is probably because I STILL struggle, but what a gift Rachel has.  She was so much fun and we simply laughed at each other and with each other and before I knew it the pain had disappered, and she had made me forget all about the camera and what she was up to.

Oh and yes, these are my “shooting boots”, they clearly weren’t supposed to be part of the details, but they made it in the shots anyway.  I suppose it is only fitting because they are always behind the lens and have traveled quite a journey with me.

Thank you Rachel for your gift and for letting me be and feel like SIMPLY ME!

ENJOY!!!