6 things I’ve learned since being laid off | Personal

Family, Momma Series, Personal

Hey hey!

For those of you who may not have known or new to following me I want to give you a little bit of my back story before going into todays blog post.

6 months ago (September 2017) I was laid off from a job I had been with for 10 + years. The crappy part? I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach when I received the news. Thankfully we were given a years worth of notice before we were actually let go from the company. At any time if we found a new job we could leave the company but I chose to stay until the end and help transition the work to the new home office in PA.

For the last 6 months I have been home and looking for work. Out of 100’s of applications, tons of networking and many “Thanks for your time but….” replies I am still looking for work. This past week  has been really hard. I received a letter from Unemployment that I have exhausted my options and we do not qualify for any other assistance. So now we will be living off savings until the money runs out or a job opportunity comes available. Sean has been supportive and not giving up hope. He continues to keep encouraging me and telling me we will get through this. I know God is in control and he know’s what he’s doing. I just wish I could see the big picture. Normally I would not dare to share a personal story like this for the world to read but something inside says, “Krystle, you need to let it out. You need to share with the world what is on your mind, let people know what is going on. Don’t be afraid. It’s all going to work out. You wait and see.”

If you have been in this situation before or something similar know I am sending you a virtual hug. This is not easy and very stressful on everyone in the family. I try not to let Riley see me cry (annnnd here come the tears again..) but it is so hard when the slightest thought of losing everything brings up tons of emotions. Going from a 2 income family to 1 is stressful. Work does not come as easy as people may think. I am not writing this post for anyone to feel sorry for me or for a hand out. I just want to share our story and our current season of life we are in.

I do want to take some time and tell you some of the GOOD things this lay off has taught me. I am grateful for this opportunity of the lay off. I’ve been able to enjoy unlimited snuggles with Riley, learned more about myself and things that fill my soul. I’ve learned some things that I was doing that wasn’t benefiting our family and where I went wrong with my photography business.

 

What this lay off has taught me over the last 6 months:

 

  1. Stop living a rushed filled life.

After being laid off I had over 70+ hours of free time to my week that I normally didn’t have. I’d wake up every morning (after hitting the snooze a few time) and rush to get myself and Riley ready. I was lucky to have a baby sitter who loved dressing up Riley so all I had to do was pick her up, put her in the car and go. But I was still rushing to get to work. After work I’d rush through traffic to pick her up and go to an activity or head home to cook dinner before Sean got home. I was so exhausted each and every day that I would wait and do house work on the weekends. Dishes piled up. Laundry was untamable. Meal planning and grocery shopping for the next week. I was living life just rushing around trying to get it all done. It was insane and I never realize just how bad it was until I was able to slow down. I am grateful for this slow down because it’s showed me I do not like living a rushed filled life. My anxiety was always on the high end no matter what I did or medicine I took. I enjoy my slower morning. Each day I get up, make me a cup of coffee and go to my planner and fill out what needs to be done that day. I would see if we had any appointments and schedule our days around it. Even with being home I was still “busy” because something always came up that needed to be done but I allowed myself to do it at a slower pace. Which in return allowed me to stress less and be more happier. Nobody benefits from a rushed life. Take time to slow down. If you have over booked yourself then take some time to carve out what is important for you and your family. Then just say no to the things that do not bring meaning or joy to your life. You will see a difference when you become less busy and less rushed.

 

2. Extra time with Riley

At my corporate job I was given only 6 weeks of maternity leave. I resented the company and myself for only getting so little bonding time with her. As new parents we were still learning how to live this new life. Everything was rushed. Breastfeeding wasn’t working for us as my supply could not keep up and she had a horrible case of colic. Not to mention suffering from postpartum depression. I needed that extra time with Riley. God was listening. Several years later, I got that time. 6 months. Many days I would like to pull my hair out because she can drive me crazy. But for the most part this is what I needed. I love her so much and want to spend as much time with her as I can. She won’t be little for long and one day she will be a teenager begging for me to leave her alone. But right now, all she wants is Mommy time and I want to be there for all those moments that I can.

 

3. Having a flexible schedule has made me realize just how precious life really is.

I’ve been able to attend Riley’s activities, enjoy some quality time away with Sean and be there for them when one of them is sick.  I haven’t had to ask for permission and pray the time off request would be approved. Or if I called it to work the fear of being guilt tripped when I returned for calling in. I’ve even been able to help friends out when they are in a bind. I can run errands and make time for our family. We don’t get much time on this earth. Having the flexibility to be there for them when they need it the most is so important to me. I don’t want to miss these moments or feel guilty I have to choose.

 

4. I wish I had taken the time before being laid off to really build my Photography business with a solid foundation.

This is a BIG one. For the last 5 years I’ve been winging my photography business. I never really had a plan on how I would grow the business. It was more like a hobby I tried to make a few extra dollars from while doing something I loved. I’ve decided to take a step back and build a strong foundation for my business so I can be a better business owner and photographer to my clients. I started working on the legal parts of the business, creating a business plan and creating a strong plan to grow the business. I want to be able to provide a quality experience for my clients while being able to support my family. What if Sean or I encounter another lay off situation (news flash: Sean was told about a month ago he too was being laid off from his job within the next year.) I want to be able to have a solid business I know will be able to keep this family running. Isn’t that why people become entrepreneurs in the first place? We have a craft that we love and want to share it with others but also be able to support our families. You get one shot at this life. I want to work hard so I can play hard!

 

5. Home improvements are NOT my thing.

Yes, I got bored some days and decided to go on the DIY pinterest home improvement rampage. I do not recommend this unless you know what you are doing! Let’s just say I gave *most* of them my best try. I highly recommend hiring a professional to do the work for you. It’s just not my thing. I can say our house is more “homey” feeling with the renovations. After 3 years of being in our home we have freshly painted walls, more inviting and comfortable spaces, and tons of pictures hanging on our walls. You can even spot a few plants I’ve managed to keep alive 😀

and last but not least..

6. Being a stay at home mom is NOT easy.

There.. I said it.. I’ve now been on both sides of the park. A full time working mom rushing to do all the things and a SAHM with plenty of time to do all the things.. Or so I thought… Shout out to all child care givers out there. Sure.. SAHM moms have ALLLLLLLLLLL day to get things done, or do they? In a perfect world Moms would wake up, make the kids breakfast, kiss hubby out the door, clean the dishes, make lunch, do the house chores, dust the cabinets, grocery shop, watch tv, chat with their girlfriends, have dinner ready on the table when hubby arrived, bathe the kids, read them a story, put them to bed and spend quality time with hubby before bed and start the routine all over again. But wait.. In the mist of all of that you forgot the tantrums, the 100 clothes changes through out the day, the “mommy play with me” moments that happen every 5 minutes while your just trying to load the dishwasher. Bonus points if your even able to check your email or social media account to get a little away time. You can’t even go to the bathroom without them following you in there needing something. A shower? HA FORGET IT! Oh wait the dog got sick and you need to rush them to the vet. Yet your child is screaming they want to stay home and refuse to put on any clothes. SAHMs are exhausted and cannot get barely anything done while kids are wrapped to their legs all day. SAHM moms barely get a break. If you’ve never watched an episode of Cat and Nat on youtube, go now and watch! When one of my best friends was a stay at home mom she would tell me about her being home and still not being able to get it all done. I was like how come? And then when I got laid off and became a SAHM for these 6 months I got a good experience of exactly what she went through. No matter if you work full time or stay at home there is never enough time in the day to do it all. Try running a business in the mist of all that?! Everyone needs help regardless if you work a 40 hour week or stay home full time with kids.

 

I am keeping my head up and doing everything I can to help support my family. We will get through this rough season in life. A BIG thank you to everyone who has helped us along the way, continued to support us and been here when we need you the most. You guys are heroes and I am forever grateful for each and every one of you. We will get through this rough time. If praying is your thing, please add a little one in there for us. <3

I’m a Toys R Us Kid | Personal Series

Family, Momma Series

“I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid
they got a million toys at Toys R us that I can play with
I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid
they got the best for so much less, it’ll really flip your lid
From bikes to trains to video games
it’s the biggest toy store there is (gee whiz!)
I don’t wanna grow up, cause maybe if I did
I couldn’t be a Toys R Us kid
more games, more toys, oh boy!
I wanna be a Toys R Us kid”

 

Do you remember this jingle growing up? I know I do! And with the recent news about ALL the Toys R Us stores having to close really saddens me.

Growing up we lived close to Toys R Us. I can remember many trips to the toy store whether it was to buy a present for someone or just to kill some time. Since having Riley I also kept this tradition alive with her. Being able to walk into a store with so many toys, games and items to help deepen a childs imagination, it’s a magical feeling. Sometimes we go in needing to buy something but most of the time we go to kill time in between appointments. Rileys eyes light up as soon as we pull into the parking lot of Toys R Us. As we walk in she typically heads for the cars. Then the barbies. Then the baby dolls. Maybe paw patrol. Around to the books. Back to the cars. Attempts to ride the skate boards.. and this cycle repeats until I tell her it’s time to go. We may walk out with nothing physically but we have both walked out with something mentally. I get to see Riley’s interest change. She gets to go in and see all the different varieties of items and what draws her attention most. Riley gets to experience new toys and ooooh and aaaaahh over new toys she never knew existed. We both walk out with good memories.

I totally get the reason why Toys R Us could not make it in todays market. We (the parents purchasing the items) tend to not get that same magical feeling we once did walking into the store as we did when we were kids. Parents don’t want to fight with their kids in the toy store. Heck we try to avoid any store for the sake of a melt down and the “no you can’t have that” fight.. Online shopping has made it easy for us parents to just click a button and not have to leave the house.

I read an article about the closing and I feel the statement was very true. “Yes Toys R Us may not have been the cheapest place to buy toys, but it wasn’t about being the cheapest. People pay more for a good experience.” Look at Starbucks. You can get coffee anywhere. (Hello McD $1 coffee!) But the experience and options are what draw people to come back. People have the choice to pay $5 for a single cup of coffee or $1 at the local gas station. It’s all about the options and experience. Toys R Us failed to uphold that experience. Why? Because it’s hard to convince a Mom or Dad whyyyyy they should drag themselves into a toy store only to leave their childs hearts broken because they may not be able to “buy all the things..” Once again why many people have turned to online shopping. Toys R Us is not the only people to blame for the closing of the store. Sure they could have done some better marketing but we as parents have failed our children of that experience just as well. We have gotten lazy and accustom to “taking the easy way out” vs realizing what we have taken away from our children.

Once I saw the news report about Toys R Us closing as soon as next week I knew I needed to take some pictures of Riley at Toys R Us. My heart breaks knowing this could be the last time she step foot in the toy store she loves and looks forward to going to… RIP Toys R Us. We had some good memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thin Blue Line | Dinwiddie, VA

Clients

WOW! It’s 2018 guys! And really if you think about it we are almost through January. Seriously, blows my mind how fast time flies.

Jessica reached out to me back in the fall about doing a tribute session for the kids father, Officer Russell Wiegratz, and their grandfather AKA Papa CHPD officer Daniel Wiegratz. Jessica and I tossed around some ideas for months to prep for this session and make it one to remember. Jessica, I think we nailed it! These photos not only show the love these kids had for their father and Papa but this is a part of their life they will look back and treasure forever. Amara and Zane came ready to represent the love and passion they have for these two brave men in their lives. Being a part of the First Responder Community takes a lot of courage and strength. Not only do the first responders themselves sacrifice something but the spouses, children and their families do too. Many of nights Riley and I see Sean run out the door to a call knowing what danger he is putting himself in to help someone else. The media has really put a bad rep on Police officers in the past couple years and it really upsets me. Yes there are some bad apples but we need to also look at all the good ones out there too. We need to hear more of the good stories not just the bad ones who are mixed in the bunch. Please take the time to thank a fellow first responder for all they do. They are putting their lives on hold to help others and miss out on events to keep the community a safer and better place to live. Being able to make document this part of  Jessica, Amara, Zane and Riker’s life I thank them for the ultimate sacrifice they have given! Like the saying goes, I got your 6!

Something to talk about | Personal series

Personal

As I was writing another blog post I had to stop in my tracks and start this one. I have something I want to talk about…

I love social media. These days I’m more of a “creeper” and looking at what everyone else is posting. I sometimes join in conversations but most the time I just read, think to myself of a comment I’d post and keep scrolling. Guys, I am a very talkative person. Like really talkative. I love good conversations with people. I look back on my social media posts and I feel like I do not come across the person I really am.

I was driving down the road on the way to pick up groceries from Kroger (Thank you Clicklist!) and wanted to post a few pictures of Riley to Facebook and Instagram. After a few minutes about what captions I wanted to added to them I stopped and closed the apps. I noticed I tend to do this a lot. But Why? Well I finally was able to pin point why, and it’s really quite sad. I’m embarrassed to even bring it up but I’m hoping it will help me break the wall down and just stop being so reserved.

So I have this family member, Let’s say her name is Susan. Susan and I have had a rough relationship for quite some time. We disagree with a lot of things, we cannot see each other in person and when I do see this person they totally give me a panic attack. Susan gets under my skin so bad and makes me very angry I cannot have a healthy relationship with this person but I’m also glad I do not because I really don’t need that negativity in my life. Well Susan likes to snoop on my social media accounts. I am warned by family members to watch what I post online because Susan will get upset. I do not want to upset the family so I keep my mouth shut, post generic posts or only business like posts on my website to keep everyone happy. But IIIIIIIIIIII am not happy. I hate that I have to hide or feel like I’m holding back of what is going on with my life because if Susan catches wind of it then she is going to make my family members life a living hell by gossiping with the new information she has found out.

I know many of you are thinking why do you care what Susan thinks? Who cares if she gossips? Because Susan can be right out nasty and people do not stand up to Susan. She takes it out on someone in my family I care about so so much and I do not want to lose a relationship with. But I am TIRED of not sharing about my life with everyone. I hear it all the time people are asking what is new with me, hows Riley, hows Sean, how’s business? And want to talk about it all but there is never enough time. I want to use my platforms just like many of my friends and fellow business owners to share our lives, good and bad. I’m just so tired of being paranoid and scared to post things online because they could be used against me or my family. How is it fair to live a life in fear? It’s not and I’m tired of the bullying! I’m sick of worrying of being judged by certain people when all I want to do is spread joy, happiness and love.

I need that support to know this is okay to do this and that there is nothing wrong with sharing our lives with our fans who enjoy following our family. Everyone always wants to know the latest on what’s going on and I want to share more of those moments. Many of the blogs and social media accounts I follow, I follow for the stories of people and their families. It’s something about reading personal stories that inspire me to keep going for my own dreams. Maybe one day my story can inspire someone and they say “because of you I followed my dreams” or “you inspired me”.

Ahhh… To start the year off more of with getting THAT BIG BURDON off my chest! WOOOOOO!!!! Let’s dig into 2018 with Happiness and spreading joy y’all!

Note: I apologize for the running sentences and some the post not making sense. I did not re-read through the post because I know if I did I’d never post this. I promise future posts will be better 😉

 

Allen Family | Richard Bland College, Petersburg Va

Uncategorized

Okay, so every photographer stays glued to the weather apps when they know they have a session or event coming up. The original day we had the Allen family portraits scheduled it was raining. Lauren & I ended up rescheduling for this past Saturday. When I say I stalked the weather, I mean I was on there at least 2 times a day making sure rain was no where in site. Guess what! NO RAIN! Guess what else? horrible humidity. Not even 10 minutes into the session all of us were sweating our butts off. BUT we had TONS of fun! Seriously I delivered a gallery with over 200+ images because the “outtakes” were part of their session. I love hanging out with this family. They are so fun, easy going. They make it feel like your just a friend hanging out. These 4 are more than clients, they are considered friends now. Ready to see all the fun we had? Let’s just say normally kids opt to be my assistant….

Let’s go!

   

 

 

Lisa + Jimmy | Dellwood Plantation Engagement

Clients

Celebrate.

So this word was used in a conversation I was involved in the other day. The way this person used the word was not in relations to a party of some sort. She used the word to describe how she helped spread encouragement and excitement on another persons achievement.

After listening to her story I zoned out (what happens when a creative moment pops in my head) and realized I wanted Lisa and Jimmys engagement story shared the same way, through celebration.

Normally I would be sitting here writing about their life, their upcoming wedding and telling you the outline of their session and how it went. Todays post I am excited for you to read. I hope at the end of this post you too will help celebrate Lisa and Jimmys engagement!

Lisa contacted me a couple months ago about photographing her and Jimmys wedding in 2018 at the Dellwood Plantation in Chesterfield Va. I was estatic and of course said yes. We planned her engagement session while Jimmy and her were on vacation plus she wanted to include her children Logan and Lacey.

The session started like any normal session, until Logan and Lacy started letting down the usual shy barrier and trusting me. It didn’t take them too long to open up. They became so involved with the session it was like mini sessions for the both of them which I loved. “Let’s go here! Photograph me over there! Omg send me that image please!” Were just a few of the comments during Logan and Lacys part of the session. It’s something about when a child opens up and let’s their creative thoughts out mine tends to explode. Its magical. My face is like the emoji with red hearts as eyes.

Once I was done with the kids I spent the rest of our time photographing the main focus of that day, Jimmy & Lisa.

These two have a very strong connection. I’ve read books and watched many movies where couples would have this same type of connection Lisa and Jimmy have. But never in person have I physically seen it or experienced it. And man when come across it you can’t help but stare. The way Lisa would smile at Jimmy when he grabbed her hand to hold as they were walking. Or when Jimmy would wrap his arms around Lisa and look at her like she was a queen. This kind of love and connection warms your heart and releases butterflies of excitement in your stomach.

I cannot wait to continue the celebration next May. I am so glad I got to experience this moment in their lives and excited for all their family & friends to witness just how unique and genuine their love is too.

And queue the butterflies…..

            

How it feels when life hands you lemons | Personal

Personal

I’m about to pour everything out that has been weighing on my mind. This post is very difficult for me to actually push publish on. Allowing people to know the struggles my family and I are currently facing is very scary for me. I haven’t even posted this on my personal social media accounts. But after several weeks of struggling to keep it all together and get out of bed in the morning, I receiving some good advice from a fellow mentor which has allowed me to accept my decision to get this out and share.

 

I fall in that group of people who tend to only share the good of what is going on in life. I feel like the “bad and ugly” people see as either someone whining or wanting attention. I do not let people know anything is wrong until my breaking point, at the point when it’s too late and I feel like the world is crashing down on me. But truth is I LOVE sharing about what is going on with my life, good,bad & ugly. When I get to talking I have a hard time shutting up. While I love technology, a good in person conversation makes me oh so happy.

 

I received some advice last week that weighed on my heart and inspired me to go ahead write this post and get it out of my head. This person said “People want to know you. The authentic you. Not just the good side of you but the not so fun side too. Many people are looking to connect with others who they can relate to. You never know how powerful your story is until you tell it.” So if you’re still reading this post thank you…

 

The layoff –

Last August while on vacation I received a phone call that I was being laid off from a job I had been at for about 10 years. The phone call was very vague on what was going to happen and what to expect. I was told I would find out more information once I returned back to work the following week. I couldn’t stop thinking the whole time while at the beach what they could not tell me. How was this going to impact Sean, Riley and I? How would we pay the bills? And I didn’t want to spend a dime on vacation after that phone call because I had noooo clue what was going to happen. Vacation just sucked last year..

 

After coming back from vacation I had a meeting explaining our work was being moved to another corporate office. Essentially we all were all asked to stay with the company to help transition our workload to the new team at the new facility. We were all given various dates of when we would be released from the company but we could leave at any time if we needed to. We had the option to apply for other jobs within the company as well.

 

While I agreed to stay to help with the transition my heart and passion to stay with the company was so far gone. Actually my drive to stay with the company had been gone for many years. I had already applied for jobs outside the company before this happen. I did not receive any leads from those many applications I submitted.

 

Gods Plan –

Now I am not big on religion but all the signs about this lay off show me this was GOD’s doing.. GOD was listening when I asked for a change in my career path but delivered to me in a different way than giving me another job or winning the lottery. God knew the only way I would leave this current job is to have another lined up. So instead he pushed me out of it. Here I was faced with a decision to make. Either find another job within the company or go out and do something great with my life like I have been trying to do for so long. Before the layoff I applied to all these various jobs inside and outside the company yet nothing came of them. I wasn’t kept in this job because I am not good enough for something better, I believe GOD held me back from other opportunities because he knew I wanted none of those. He knew I wanted to escape the corporate world and was working on it in ways I could not see or understand.

Since Riley was born I’ve wanted to take my photography from a hobby and create an actual business. Every time I said I was ready to take my photography from a Hobby to a business something always came up, I freaked out and I quit. I continuously gave up on myself. I felt like I was a fraud (not good enough to call myself Professional Photographer because I wasn’t all that great) and that this type of life I dreamt of didn’t really exist.

After months of back and forth battling with my inner voice, I listened to my heart and gut.. I am pursuing the life I have dreamt of.  Creating art, mentoring and spreading love & positivity.

For the last year I have invested in learning about self development. I’ve been reading books, listening to podcasts and joined self development groups. This has been a game changer for me. I started believing in myself more. Realizing I am not the only one going through the same situation (or worse) and I had the ability just like everyone else to build a life I dream of and that I am not crazy. I spend a lot of time either focusing on self development or talking with other entrepreneurs about everything they had to overcome and do to be where they are at. There stories are not what I thought they would be. They all faced different challenges. Many of them didn’t believe they would be where they are to day if you asked them 5 years ago. They also struggled getting up in the morning going to their 9-5 comfortable job. They too tried to apply for other jobs with no success. They decided to stop living what society thought was “right” and start venturing out to see how they could live the life they knew they wanted, but no book to tell them how. This is how I felt about working for a corporation. I had no passion to climb the corporate ladder. My passion was fueled by building things, creating things, teaching people and spreading positivity. These things I am good at and make me happy. The challenge of building a business, growing it, nurturing it, etc. It’s exciting to me.

I’ve come to terms that maybe I kept restarting and quitting all those times because it really wasn’t the right time. But now, all the signs are there that are telling me GO FOR IT KRYSTLE!

I am scared for what the next couple months will bring but we will overcome this.

Now I feel better getting that out. If this inspires you in someway or feel like you need a mentor to get through something difficult, reach out to me. I want this to be a place people can come to check out not only my craft but also what is going on in our life. This is the first of many personal blog posts. I want To connect with my followers. I want to be a part of your life too. Share with me your blog, IG or send me an email and lets chat. I recommend everyone struggling with something to find a support group or community who uplifts you. 

Now after 8 hours of writing and rewriting this blog post, I am headed to spend some quality time with Riley.

 

Be sure to follow up on Insastories!

 

Kristen + Mike | Boathouse Wedding at Rocketts Landing

Clients

You guys!!!!

I cannot believe these two are MARRIED! If you didn’t read the back story on Kristen and Mike head over to there engagement post here and read it! Let’s talk about the week leading up to the wedding… Kristen was very nervous about the weather predictions for their wedding day. And guess what?! The rain didn’t start until after the reception was OVER!! THANK YOU GOD! We were graced with mostly cloud coverage the entire wedding.

Kristen and Mike made arrangements to spend their first night together as husband and wife at the Jefferson Hotel. I think I got a little too excited about being able to go and hang out at the Jefferson Hotel while Kristen and family got ready.

The wedding Venue was dressed elegantly yet had a relaxing and fun atmosphere. If you have never been to a wedding that had a photobooth, let me tell you it was one of the best decisions Kristen agreed to with her wedding photography. It helped break the ice for people who didn’t know each other, it brought the Bride and Grooms families even closer together and overall was a fun experience for everyone. BIG SHOUT OUT to Jeannie Maddy for Coshooting the Wolf wedding with me!

Thank you Kristen and Mike for allowing me to not only attend but photograph your wedding.

Sean and I had such a great time and will be hanging photos from your wedding in our home.

Congradulations to the New Mr. & Mrs. Wolf! We wish you many many years of Happiness, adventure and love.

Hotel: The Jefferson Hotel
Wedding Venue: The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing
Photographers: Krystle Myers Photography & Jeannie Maddy Photography
Photobooth Props: Tracey Huff
Caterers: The Boathouse
Hair & Makeup: His and Hers Salon
Dress: Davids Bridal
Cake: Jennifer Davis
Donuts: Duck Donuts
Wedding Planner: Tiffany Wyche
Officiant: Brian Purcell
Flowers: Serena Rose Flowers
Dress Alterations: Faribas

 

 

Davis Family | Anchor Point, Hopewell VA

Clients

Are you an HGTV fanatic like me? One of my favorite parts of the shows is how they mix different colors together. Some of which I look at and I cannot vision but I’m like hey they are the experts they know what they are doing. I’m intreged let’s see how this plays out and every time Im in awww about how good it looks. And then Im on pinterest trying to recreate just about every single color pallette from farm style to beach front living. Dont judge!

Every time Christina contacts me about photographing her family I that same excitement. She’s good at mixing and matching colors in everyones outfits to blend nicely together. She reminds me of the PRO’s on HGTV. I’m going to use her to pick out outfits for Sean, Riley and I on our next families outfits. She’s that good y’all.

Let’s not also forget how natural they are in front of a camera. I’m not even this comfortable haha. I love how the kids ASK for specific shots. Some work but some I would have never thought of and they work sooo good. They are so creative. Kaleigh and Colin will take me all around to their favorite places and ask “Krystle can we take a picture here? Krystle can you take a picture of me like this?” My answer is always YOU BET! Christinas oldest Chase has always been “go with the flow” but his natural stance is as if you posed him.

Each time I photograph Christina and her family we pick a different location. Most of the times I pick locations that I am not familiar with but want to try because something has caught my eye. She never turns me down. I just love it how shes up for anything and goes with the flow. Thank you Christina for trusting and believing in me!!

The best part, looking about and remembering how our friendship got started.  A couple years ago I didn’t even know who Christina was. We met at our first family reunion and hit it off from there. After becoming Facebook friends I noticed we had several mutual friends. All this time she was right there and I never knew we were related. Crazy cool!

Now I get to enjoy watching the kids grow up and watching Christina luwar me in on buying some of this amazing lip sense.

Until next time! Be sure to subscribe to my mailing list and snag your FREEBIE!

 

 

Rebecca | Prince George High Senior

Business, Clients

One thing I love about my job is I am not stuck working at the same location day in and day out. I get to work with clients and pick locations that best match there personality and life. Down fall to this is mother nature. She plays a big part if a session is going to happen and where. I hate to reschedule sessions due to weather issues but the safety and quality of ones session is very importation.

Rebecca’s senior session I had to reschedule almost TWICE due to rain. This month has been majority of rain and thunder storms. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE a good rain shower or thunder storm but when affects one of my clients sessions I get anxious.

Rebecca’s Step Mom Reagen and I were watching the weather hour by hour last week. LUCKILY we had a break in the rain (maybe a 3 hour window) and we HAD to get the session in or there was no other time Rebecca could reschedule. We HAD to make this happen for her! This is one of the biggest moments in a high school seniors life. I was prepared to even shoot in the rain.

THANKFULLY the rain held off. I met Rebecca, her step mom Reagen and her Dad at Maymont Park in Richmond, Va. We started out in the Japanese Garden when the Koi fish were jumping out the water while Rebecca was standing on one of the stepping stones. I was kind of nervous they were going to take one of us out. haha..

Rebecca reminds me a lot like myself when I was in High School. I can definitely relate to her. Can you believe I was not always a girly girl? Rebecca is a sweet down to earth person and she described herself to me as not a girly girl type.

Rebecca picked Maymont to have her senior pictures taken and it was a great choice! After the rain let up the flowers shined bright against those grey skies. The colors were vibrant and I could not have asked for a better afternoon with them.

Good luck to you Rebecca and I wish you the best!