I’ve never liked to follow the crowd.

And seeing how my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and RSS feeds have been full of Father’s Day posts and expressions of love - I decided to write a blog about... well, moms.

(Not that I don’t love my papa but let’s face it - the internet? It’s not his thing.)

As I said last weekend, I got to spend an evening with my boyfriend’s family - and that, of course, meant meeting his mom. If you’re anything like me, that’s a bit of a nerve wracking situation to begin with but imagine that your boyfriend is 2200 miles away, you’re supposed to be moving in with him in three weeks and, you’ve got plans to take portraits of her while you’re there. Looking back at it now, I’m not sure what I thought would happen. Perhaps I thought I would forget how to operate a camera, or maybe she’d tell Trevor not to let me come to Montana? I don’t know.. but the point of the story is, I had such a good time with his family and the pictures? Well, I didn’t forget how to use my camera. (And the risotto we had for dinner? so good.)

Truth be told, I felt a little guilty since my own mother had been asking me to take photos for her for well, the past few months. I always planned to, but something was always in the way - Aiden had homework to do, I was working, she didn’t feel like it. But somehow, the stars aligned to take portraits of my mother on Father’s Day. I feel like this should somehow make up for my lack of an appropriate Mother’s Day blog.. Maybe even for the missing birthday blog, too. Or, maybe not.

My last nine days in Pennsylvania are shaping up to include a lot of photography projects - this week I will be taking first year portraits, wedding anniversary photos (with dirt bikes involved), and a photo swap with my friend, Lindsey. In between that, I’ve been designing new business cards and client information, ordering prints, updating my website and getting ready for two months of doing photography as my sole source of income. I can’t say that I’m not terrified nervous but I’m also excited about the opportunities that I’ve been given. It’s also been enlightening to look back this week at the more than 7,000 images which fill my Lightroom catalog and to see how my style has evolved over the past year. I can only hope that two months in Montana, and a lot of time spent with my camera, will continue that trend.


What are your goals for this summer?