Kye & Mileigh ~July 2014

Love these two!


Peace, Love & Family,

w

Isbell Wedding

This wedding was absolutely awesome! The bride & groom, the wedding party, the families, the band, the venue (Cotton Creek Barn), the guests...seriously, it was awesome!  These two absolutely love each other, it radiates when they look at one another!  I wish them a lifetime of love & laughter! Here's a few shots from the day! Enjoy!

Peace, love & matrimony,

w

Favorites...

A friend of mine posted a list of her son's favorites. He is three and the list was adorable! I decided I would ask myself, Kam and Kye the exact same questions...just for fun.  Here are our answers!

Kye's Favorite's List:

Color: Blue

Person:  DeeDee (Kam's Mom)

Place to visit: Bud & Mackie's (My parents)

Vegetable:  Tomato

Fruit: grapes!

Restaurant: McDonald's

Song: Trouble! (by Taylor Swift)

Thing to do: play with my Momma

Number: 2

Letters: ABC...F

Animal: Uncy!  (my horse)

Kam's Favorite's List:
Color: Green
Person:  Kye
Place to visit:  Ruidoso, NM
Vegetable:  green beans
Fruit:  banana
Restaurant: Texas Roadhouse
Song: Hotel California by the Eagles
Thing to do: fishing with Whit & Kye
Number:  1
Letters: K
Animal: dog

MY Favorite's List:
Color: Turquoise
Person: Kye Rance
Place to visit: Ruidoso, NM
Vegetable: Taters!
Fruit: Apples
Restaurant: Texas Roadhouse or El Chico's
Song: today: Little Red Wagon (Miranda Lambert)  to dance to: Green Snakes (Johnny Bush) of all time:  Wildflower (The Great Divide), Silver Wings (Merle Haggard), Wagon Wheel (OCMS), etc., etc.
Thing to do: photography, ride my horse, hang with my guys
Number: 7
Letters: B
Animal: horses

~Kam and Kye both knew their favorite songs right off the bat...me, I saved this blog for 24 hours and couldn't decide on a song...I still can't decide on one song. I have such a love for music that I truly don't know which one song would be my all time favorite. Even the ones I listed don't come close...it's a hard question. Okay, the end. ~

Peace, Love & Simple answers,

w

Justin & Darby got hitched....like forever ago.

Weddings are fun, especially when you love the people getting married!  Here's just a few samplers from the night... 

peace, love & family

w

Why you should appreciate your photographer...even if it's not me.

Let me preface this with this message: I LOVE what I do. I love my clients. I love my job. I love love love photography and design.


In an ever changing world where everyone can be a "photographer" because the quality of digital cameras has gone from good to ridiculously amazing, it's a hard row to hoe to stay a step ahead.  Sure you can put your camera and lense in auto and the focus looks great. Sure you can stand someone in front of a wall and get a good shot.  But taking that step toward a photography business is a little more serious.  

Knowing your camera is important. Shooting in manual is the only way to go. Light, focal point, depth of field, it all looks better in manual.

So let's discuss something.  Why should you appreciate your photographer?  Why? Well, here's a short list.

1.  Your photographer has most likely spent more on equipment (cameras, lenses, batteries, memory cards, filters, props, computers, editing software, classes, etc.) than he or she will make in a year.

2. Your photographer may also have one or more other jobs which require time and effort as well.  Your session very well may cause this photographer to feed her family fast food WAY more than he or she would like to admit. She may have a filthy house, a spouse and child who don't grasp the need to chase the light... Maybe they are away from their families on Saturdays and Sunday evenings and week day evenings after work just to do what they love.  And maybe...they edit til 2 am every night to keep their clients happy.

3. Let's say you have a full session, which in my case ranges from 1 to 2 hours.   This doesn't seem long to you, but after wardrobe changes and location changes, etc. sometimes you end up needing more time.  Now, say your photographer takes eh...300 photos in this time span.  Next, they will be uploaded to the computer, resized, culled, culled again, culled again and edited.  Editing is time consuming. It's mind numbing at times, but crazy rewarding as well.  You wonder why shoot in manual?? Well because if you have everything just right, editing is much easier.

Then you have the "can you make me skinnier?" "can you remove my birthmark?" "can you make me have a tan?" people....and o that's another story in itself.

If you cull your photos down to say 100 to edit.  That's HOURS of editing.  A wedding...that's like beyond hours...that's days of editing.   I can have any where from 2-10 sessions on my computer waiting to be edited at any given time.    At night, I sit with my computer, editing, talking to my husband, watching a tv show out of the corner of my eye. I take breaks to color with my son, give him a bath, feed our funny farm of animals, cook dinner, pick up, do laundry, etc.  Then, I sit quietly after my entire house goes to bed and I edit. I edit til 2, sometimes 3 am. Then I get up for work the next morning bright and early.


So...with all of this I say....appreciate your photographer, who ever they may be.  And if they are a little late getting photos to you, please understand they have personal lives too. They have parents and grandparents who need them, children who need them, family time that is much needed, friends that need to be seen, not just heard, a house that needs to be cleaned and sometimes, they need to know it's okay to take a break.

If you want to complain about cost, that's your right.  But I tell you right now, I know I don't charge enough, I'm on the "crazy affordable" side of photography these days and I get complaints all the time. If you want to complain about how long it takes you to get your photos, go right ahead, but sometimes, our personal lives need tending to as well.

I love what I do. I love meeting so many amazing people. It's seriously a dream come true to be able to photograph important moments in peoples' lives.  I sometimes want to pinch myself, just to see if I'm asleep. Please take it for what it is and hey, send your photographer a note that says "thanks" or "you're awesome" it will encourage them to keep going, even when the road gets rough.


Peace, Love & Photography,

w

Thank God for what is right.

Sometimes when you have a lot going on, you get lost in the murky waters and forget to be grateful for the good.  This happened today, I was whining to myself about having to have 3 jobs, about my dirty house, about not wanting to do my school work, about money, etc. etc. etc...
Then, I saw this post on my FB news feed.  BOOM. So, I shall make a list.  (It's a new concept for me, don't ya know...heehee)

Instead of complaining about what's wrong, thank God for what's right! 

1.  This morning, I woke up and walked outside. Uncy was standing at the fence nickering at me.  That old horse and I have made a lot of tracks together. He's been moved around in his life as much, or more, than I have.  For the first time in my life, I can say, "We're home, Old Man, we're home."   And I get to mean it.  For this I am grateful and I thank God.

2.  My car started this morning. It got me to town. Tonight it will drive me around during a Senior session. It has carried hay, horse feed, props for sessions, fire wood, saddles, dogs, and very special kiddos. It's been loaded with camping gear, fishing poles and coolers. It's hauled boxes and pulled trailers to get us moved. It's a dirty nasty mess 95% of the time, but it allows me to get where I'm going and it's reliable and BIG.  I love my Momma Car.  I thank God I have an a/c and a reliable source of transportation. It's a big thing for me. 

3. My cousin had her baby about 10 days ago.  Kye and I went to see them.  We loved on Rody, played with the girls and had a blast.   I thank God for my relationship with Courtney. She is special to me and so is her precious little family!

4. My sister is having a baby!!!  A baby BOY!!  For this I am profoundly thankful. God is Good and He knows the desires of our hearts!

5.  My little Mister told me he loved me this morning.  He is my wild man, my hard headed little Tooter Bill, but he loves his Momma and she loves him.  My goodness, how grateful I am! 

6.  A miracle is a miracle, no matter how small.  Kye's cat, June, came home last night, after almost 3 weeks of missing.  She went to the house she was born at...in town!  She was ten miles from home and we got to pick her up last night!  We all love miss June and we are thankful she is home. 

7. I am thankful for this life. Whether we are on the struggle bus or riding high, I am thankful.  I have a great, hard-working husband, a wonderful family, a never-a-dull-moment son, some fabulous friends and I am healthy and happy! 

Life is good.   

If you're not "feeling it" today, stop and make a list of things you are thankful for.  Thank God for what is right. Thank God for what is good.   He will ease your troubled mind.  He'll bring that old struggle bus to a screeching halt! 

Peace, Love & Positive thinking,

W

Things I should have said...

Tonight I sit here missing someone I took for granted, someone I had more in common with than I often let on.   A beautiful, unique, brave soul who is gone too soon for me, but not too soon for God.

So I sit here missing her. I miss her smile and her laugh and that I always knew I could call her, but I never called her enough.  Did she know I loved her?  Did she know how proud I was of her for the woman she was becoming?

 Taylor was someone none of us truly understood.  She was wild and free.  She was colorful, but dark.   Going against the norm was her normal. She was brave. She was a mom to a baby girl she didn't have to mother.  She was a wife and a friend to my sweet brother in law. She was truly his other half. They really were made for one another.

So...if she was standing here today, what would I say to her?

First of all, I would say thank you. Thank you for being a part of our lives. Thank you for loving Mileigh. Thank you for loving Klent. Thank you for showing us being different is OKAY. Thank you for stepping up and being an amazing mother, wife and friend. Thank you for loving Kye so much, he loves you too! You grew so much in front of our eyes, maybe we missed it sometimes, but we see it now.

Second, I would say, I LOVE YOU. I love your crazy tattoos that I don't understand. I love your willingness to fight for what you believe, even when noone in the room agrees with you.  You are brave. You are headstrong and for that...I love you. I love you for loving Klent. I love you for loving Mileigh. I love you for being a friend to me even when I didn't deserve that friendship.

Next, I would say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not standing up for you, even when I wanted to. I'm sorry we were all so hard on you. I'm sorry I didn't call you enough. I'm sorry I didn't draw closer to you. I'm sorry.

What else would I say?  I would say I secretly got her, but she knew that already.  She knew about my darker side. She could see it. She could see I got her, even when I didn't want to admit that I did.   We were two very different people, but some things made sense to me when it didn't to others.  I would tell Taylor I appreciated her uniqueness and her ability to be comfortable in her own skin.


We may never know the reason the Lord needed Taylor, but perhaps just one person will be saved because of her. Maybe someone who never buckles their kids in will start buckling them in and save a life because they heard about the accident. Maybe someone will see that it is time to put differences behind them and fix a damaged relationship. Maybe someone will understand that tattoos and piercings don't mean you aren't a wonderful person/wife/mother. Maybe a relationship between brothers that has never been what it should be will find a way to become a friendship beyond destruction. Or maybe we'll never know why...but God knows why.  Thank you Lord for allowing Taylor to be in our lives.  Misunderstood, but never unloved.

Love your family and friends. Tell them you love them. Tell them you are sorry. Say what you need to say, because tomorrow isn't promised.

Peace, love & family
w