this is my happy face =D | south west, pa photographer | business

<insert sigh of relief> I won….I really won!

You see, I decided I wasn’t going to stalk their web page today waiting for them to post the winners! I mean, waiting for it and refreshing the page a million times is sort of like waiting for water to boil or waiting for paint to dry…it seems to take longer if you watch it!  Then all of a sudden, I got 4 or 5 facebook messages saying “Congratulations”, “YAY!” or “I told you you’d win”…..so I rushed over to the computer (because let’s face it reading stuff off of my smart phone just doesn’t give you the full impact) and yep….I “refreshed” the page…one. more. time. There was my name-the third line down!  I ….refreshed the page AGAIN before I believed it. I had won! I had been one of the lucky 20 winners that gets the honor of spending several hours with Justin & Mary while I’m out in Vegas!

This was about the time I wanted to do my Miss American wave…full fledged, hand in the air waving as if I had just won…I mean “WON” the bestestestest prize ever! Those of you who aren’t photographers may never grasp how much this opportunity means to me. This “THING” you call a camera, this little black box that I carry around with me EVERYWHERE has given me so many opportunities in life…not only to travel to places I would never have dreamed I could, but to meet amazing people and create some lasting genuine friendships. This “THING” around my neck has opened up a whole new world that I’m still getting use to. I’ve been humbled by how many opportunities I’ve had because of my “little black box”.

They say the experiences you’ve had over the course of your life will mold and create you into the photographer you are. I believe that is true. If I’m being brutally honest with myself, my childhood wasn’t “peaches and cream” we definitely had it rough at times. My parents were both young kids raising kids. Although I have many wonderful family memories, I don’t have the “should have been on the front cover of a magazine” type of family dynamic.  We never hugged or kissed or showed any type of emotion. So I find it ironic that here I am all these years later capturing these moments for other people’s families. I guess that’s why I love my job so much and why I’m attracted to fun, happy, emotional filled photographs. I may not have had that for myself…..but I’ll make sure everyone else (including my own little family I’ve created) does.

I can not wait to get to WPPI in Vegas to get my learn-on with 19 other awesome photographers and the Justin & Mary crew!

Thank you to everyone who was rooting for me-I am humbled by how many wonderful things you all had to say!  *THIS* my friends….. is my happy face!! 🙂

PS: thank you to my 6 year old Miss Mallory for taking these for me!! 🙂