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So this is a place I will probably rant and rave, wear my heart on my sleeve, gush on my family, and most importantly share my art...the photo stories of wonderful couples and people I cross paths with. Don't be afraid to bookmark it, or leave a comment. I love hearing from everyone and anyone. Check back frequently...I will try to keep you updated.
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I have decided to include more posts about what goes thru my mind and my thoughts etc I promise they won't go political, but spiritual is a promise I cannot make. I know this won't interest most...but they will scroll past anyway. I have really been thinking about relationships and how they can be so much richer if we just know more about each other...so here goes.
Emily and I were talking this morning about being a Christian /cussing/ and the wall that so many Christians put between themselves and the world by using words like jeepers, and golly, and gosh darn it, etc. I find myself resorting to cliche' silly phrases because I live with two toddling parrots that say anything and everything that comes out of any mouth they hear. Wesley said "booty call" the other day. I was like WHAT!!! At least he has no idea what that means...thank heavens! But there is a fine line between being vulgar with language and sounding "Magoo", and alienating people by our super safe and silly vocabulary. Does this make sense or sound crazy?? Just something to think about. Where do I fit in. I don't want to throw around "f bombs" just to be down...but sometimes only certain words get the story straight or get your point across- not necessarily "f" but "d" I am quite fond of, unfortunately. hmmm.
So the wedding season picks up again.
There is always a general lag during the summer for me. I enjoy the time off to spend it with the kids and to soak up some sun. This year was especially perfect being so pregnant for the summer.
I've shot two weddings since Abby came into my life and have sessions out the eyeballs until like, new year's day!
I am so blessed and thankful and ready to get creative, dirty and really take things to another level. I want to know my clients better, I want to see thru new eyes...I want to find light and exploit it. A super-human photographer once told me (I am apologizing now...but it just can't be said any better way) "Light is your B!tch." That was an "ah ha" moment for me. He was so right. There are beautiful situations which are created by...beautiful people, beautiful venues, and beautiful lighting. If you get all three then you are golden...but more times than not I have gray, overcast, hazy, or rainy weather and the light that is available is flat and rather boring and well...gray. So flash is my bff and i use it all time. It is a love/ hate relationship which I am constantly trying to perfect..hmmm sounds like marriage. ha! jk.
Emily and I were talking this morning about being a Christian /cussing/ and the wall that so many Christians put between themselves and the world by using words like jeepers, and golly, and gosh darn it, etc. I find myself resorting to cliche' silly phrases because I live with two toddling parrots that say anything and everything that comes out of any mouth they hear. Wesley said "booty call" the other day. I was like WHAT!!! At least he has no idea what that means...thank heavens! But there is a fine line between being vulgar with language and sounding "Magoo", and alienating people by our super safe and silly vocabulary. Does this make sense or sound crazy?? Just something to think about. Where do I fit in. I don't want to throw around "f bombs" just to be down...but sometimes only certain words get the story straight or get your point across- not necessarily "f" but "d" I am quite fond of, unfortunately. hmmm.
So the wedding season picks up again.
There is always a general lag during the summer for me. I enjoy the time off to spend it with the kids and to soak up some sun. This year was especially perfect being so pregnant for the summer.
I've shot two weddings since Abby came into my life and have sessions out the eyeballs until like, new year's day!
I am so blessed and thankful and ready to get creative, dirty and really take things to another level. I want to know my clients better, I want to see thru new eyes...I want to find light and exploit it. A super-human photographer once told me (I am apologizing now...but it just can't be said any better way) "Light is your B!tch." That was an "ah ha" moment for me. He was so right. There are beautiful situations which are created by...beautiful people, beautiful venues, and beautiful lighting. If you get all three then you are golden...but more times than not I have gray, overcast, hazy, or rainy weather and the light that is available is flat and rather boring and well...gray. So flash is my bff and i use it all time. It is a love/ hate relationship which I am constantly trying to perfect..hmmm sounds like marriage. ha! jk.
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jeepers, a mouthfull
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I cannot say enough about sweet yet fierce and beautiful Gretta. Some know her as Kenyetta some know her as Gretta, she answers to both, and all who know her know she is fantastic. I just shot her wedding last Saturday so I can show you some of her bridal portraits.
I love a calm bride with a sense of humor...Gretta is all that and more. She has three Masters degrees and is working on her PhD. She is prior military...again..can't say enough about her. I feel like she and I are kindred spirits and I am so happy to have her as a friend!
I love a calm bride with a sense of humor...Gretta is all that and more. She has three Masters degrees and is working on her PhD. She is prior military...again..can't say enough about her. I feel like she and I are kindred spirits and I am so happy to have her as a friend!
3 comments so far
Angel, Nicole, & Crystal says:
These pictures are beautiful, Ashley! It was very nice working with you on Saturday. Can't wait to see the rest of them.
(09.18.09 @ 08:32 PM)
Kenyetta McKnight says:
thanx ashley the pictures are awesome. I really had a great time w/you. Great job.
(09.20.09 @ 07:37 PM)
Alicia D. says:
These look amazing. Awesome job!
(09.23.09 @ 03:17 PM)
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So my beautiful baby finally made an appearance. Thanks to a little help from the good people at Tuomey Hospital Labor and Delivery. I opted for an induction on the 18th of August after my appointment on the 17th showed that I was 3-4cm dilated, +2, and 50% effaced. I was over it...sad as that sounds. But the baby was sooooo low and moving around was painful..everything had become painful. When the doctor checks you and laughs about how low she is...it is time.
I wish I could say I waited for God...I do, but with modern medicine it was really nice to know when it would happen, have my kiddos taken care of and my bags packed etc.
I hate surprises, dont' know if I have ever mentioned that on here...but I do. Be it Christmas, or birthdays or whatever, I just don't get into being surprised. I want to know the sex of my baby as soon as they can tell...I am not old fashioned when it comes to that stuff. I think the big surprise is the health of the child...this whole baby was a surprise so enough about that.
Here are the birth details...I always want to know how long, how painful so if you are like me here is the ins and outs of it...
I went in a 5am. They did all the paperwork, I got to put on the lovely hospital gown- which I might ask...why have they made no improvements to hospital gowns in the last 50 years?!?!? Bill and I were wondering that. They are ugly, one size fits no one, unflattering and it seems no one has tried to improve them EVER!!!
So they start my pitocin around 5:30 or 5:45 I don't remember. I know that they turned down the lights and left me alone for like an hour and 1/2. Bill fell asleep and thank goodness...Beth woke up to talk to me. There is all that adrenaline and they are like try to get some rest...ugh right.
So around 7:30 Dr. Hepfer breaks my water. I know that the pain of all pains began soon after...I knew it would, but I had forgotten what exactly that pain felt like. On a pain scale I always think of like a gun shot wound being a 10....or having a foot ran over by a car or something. But this was pretty high up there...not like I remembered with Betsy. Pitocin is no joke!!! So I was sort of set on no meds, cause I tend to get spinal headaches...but I had the best nurse anesthetists named Mike who put the epidural in my L2/L3 area of my spine and kept it away from my "problem areas". Which I might say WORKED!!! No spinal headaches- so far so good!!!
I had a few visitors (love ya Mrs. Gaymon and Mrs. Smith!!!) then the next thing you know the nurse checked me and said Abby was crowning. The dr came in and Hannah my nurse asked if she should break the bed down and Dr. Hepfer said there wasn't time...so 3 pushes and Abby was on my chest staring up at her mamma!! I cannot explain the love I have felt for my children the moment that I see them.
I didn't want to give Abby up to the nurses. I just wanted to stay in that moment forever...well actually there is a lot going on at that moment that I was happy to see end- if you have had a baby you feel me!!!
It was a fantastic experience, perfect if I can say that. I am so happy with my decision for pain medicine...happy that I had my child at Tuomey, happy that I got to deliver with Dr. Hepfer....the list goes on and on. My nurses were simply wonderful and I can't say enough about this awesome experience! It was a pleasure, to say the least.
Abby has been a wonderful baby. We have had our ups and downs with gas and those sorts of newborn issues...but other than that I could stare at her and smell her for ions. I am completely enamored and in love with this baby. I wasn't looking forward to the baby thing again- to be completely honest with you. I was scared to enter into this again. We were at -what I thought was- a perfect place in our lives. Toddlers- fairly independent- ready to travel the US with us...
But God's plan is perfect and he was ready for me to do the whole projectile bowel movements, and spit up and nursing....the list goes on.
What a fantastic surprise this has been!!!
I wish I could say I waited for God...I do, but with modern medicine it was really nice to know when it would happen, have my kiddos taken care of and my bags packed etc.
I hate surprises, dont' know if I have ever mentioned that on here...but I do. Be it Christmas, or birthdays or whatever, I just don't get into being surprised. I want to know the sex of my baby as soon as they can tell...I am not old fashioned when it comes to that stuff. I think the big surprise is the health of the child...this whole baby was a surprise so enough about that.
Here are the birth details...I always want to know how long, how painful so if you are like me here is the ins and outs of it...
I went in a 5am. They did all the paperwork, I got to put on the lovely hospital gown- which I might ask...why have they made no improvements to hospital gowns in the last 50 years?!?!? Bill and I were wondering that. They are ugly, one size fits no one, unflattering and it seems no one has tried to improve them EVER!!!
So they start my pitocin around 5:30 or 5:45 I don't remember. I know that they turned down the lights and left me alone for like an hour and 1/2. Bill fell asleep and thank goodness...Beth woke up to talk to me. There is all that adrenaline and they are like try to get some rest...ugh right.
So around 7:30 Dr. Hepfer breaks my water. I know that the pain of all pains began soon after...I knew it would, but I had forgotten what exactly that pain felt like. On a pain scale I always think of like a gun shot wound being a 10....or having a foot ran over by a car or something. But this was pretty high up there...not like I remembered with Betsy. Pitocin is no joke!!! So I was sort of set on no meds, cause I tend to get spinal headaches...but I had the best nurse anesthetists named Mike who put the epidural in my L2/L3 area of my spine and kept it away from my "problem areas". Which I might say WORKED!!! No spinal headaches- so far so good!!!
I had a few visitors (love ya Mrs. Gaymon and Mrs. Smith!!!) then the next thing you know the nurse checked me and said Abby was crowning. The dr came in and Hannah my nurse asked if she should break the bed down and Dr. Hepfer said there wasn't time...so 3 pushes and Abby was on my chest staring up at her mamma!! I cannot explain the love I have felt for my children the moment that I see them.
I didn't want to give Abby up to the nurses. I just wanted to stay in that moment forever...well actually there is a lot going on at that moment that I was happy to see end- if you have had a baby you feel me!!!
It was a fantastic experience, perfect if I can say that. I am so happy with my decision for pain medicine...happy that I had my child at Tuomey, happy that I got to deliver with Dr. Hepfer....the list goes on and on. My nurses were simply wonderful and I can't say enough about this awesome experience! It was a pleasure, to say the least.
Abby has been a wonderful baby. We have had our ups and downs with gas and those sorts of newborn issues...but other than that I could stare at her and smell her for ions. I am completely enamored and in love with this baby. I wasn't looking forward to the baby thing again- to be completely honest with you. I was scared to enter into this again. We were at -what I thought was- a perfect place in our lives. Toddlers- fairly independent- ready to travel the US with us...
But God's plan is perfect and he was ready for me to do the whole projectile bowel movements, and spit up and nursing....the list goes on.
What a fantastic surprise this has been!!!
2 comments so far
Cristy Cross says:
Congratulations on your new little precious baby. I love the hat too. She is adorable.
(09.03.09 @ 10:10 PM)
Jennifer Young says:
She is beautiful! CONGRATULATIONS! I love the pics....as usual!!!
(09.04.09 @ 04:27 PM)
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Abby Mae
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