It's been a whirlwind of a year. I honestly cannot believe 2016 is almost here. Blows my mind, actually. Whenever you have kids, the saying "the days are long and the years are short" certainly rings true. Brooklyn is almost 19 months old and we're officially on baby #2 alert (hence my earlier-than-usual recap post!).
If you remember my recap from 2014, I set some goals for myself for the new year. And a lot of the goals had to do with a shift in re-focusing my business. Let's see how things worked out:
1) Focus more on portrait sessions (versus weddings), because they allow me more flexibility with raising our children. I succeeded in making very intentional decisions this past year about what and who I photographed. Unfortunately, this went hand in hand with having to say "no" to almost every non-local shoot or wedding, but I'm happy because it allowed me more time to be at home with my family. Along with caring for my baby girl full-time, I still managed to shoot five weddings, eight newborn/baby sessions, five family sessions, two engagement sessions and one maternity session. I'm very fortunate to have a mother-in-law nearby who cares for Brooklyn so well AND a husband who supports me and realizes that my photography business is still important in my life.
2) Give my online presence a makeover, including streamlining my sites. I'm almost there with this! I've already consolidated my two previous sites to one portfolio & blog URL via Squarespace, which I'm very happy with. I also switched to a new gallery hosting company called Pixieset that is much more user-friendly and displays photos beautifully. The last thing on my makeover: give my logo a little upgrade!
3) Photograph a live birth. Unfortunately, this still hasn't happened. If you know of someone willing, leave me a note in the comments or e-mail me with suggestions!
4) Do a session pro bono. I failed miserably with this. Time isn't something I have a lot of these days, but I still want to make this a priority for 2016.
5) Run a contest with a free session catered to local clientele. I hosted this at the beginning of last year, and Paige, if you're reading this... I still owe you a session! : )
Even though the season in my life has changed dramatically over the past year+ from seeing myself as primarily a photographer first to now a mama first, I still very much love the moments I spend with my clients. I still get that nervous/giddy/adrenaline-filled feeling right before a session or wedding starts, which shows me that I love and live for photographing people. And I don't think that feeling will ever go away!
Thank you so much to everyone who continues to support my little business. Every comment on social media and my blog puts a huge smile on my face. Cheers to 2015 and all my clients who made it so special! Here is a photo recap (in order!) of every session and wedding from the past year. I look forward to what lies ahead in 2016!
And one last thing: as of today, I am on maternity leave until April. I will still be posting some personal things on the blog in the coming week(s), as long as this little dude en utero stays put. ; )
