What a year 2010 was! Not only did I deliver a healthy, happy, baby boy, but it was also a year in which I feel I really grew as a photographer. Not to mention my business grew as well!

When I decided to open a photography business a little over a year ago, I knew nothing of what I was getting myself into. I will be the first to admit that. Taxes, forms, contracts, record keeping and more are not what I bargained for. I just wanted to take beautiful pictures. I was so passionate about wanting to take those pictures, that I put my number and legal jargon fear aside and tackled it head on.  I can honestly say, there are few things I am more proud of than my business. I created it from the ground up and poured my heart and soul into it.

In the process of creating my business, something unexpected happen. I made new friends and I fell in love with my clients and their families. I don’t claim to know what it is about the bond that you create with someone when you put yourself behind a camera and capture their memories, but it is very real. And so many of you have touched my life in so many different ways.  A client of mine said this to me in a recent email :

You have been amazing about everything and I don’t think I could have found a photographer to fit my family if I had looked for years!  S and I both agree, that you feel like part of the family already and we wouldn’t have our photos taken by anyone else!

And I have heard similar things from others, and it makes everything that I do so very worth it.

Through the beauty that is social networking, I have watched your children grow, learned of engagements, pregnancies, and more. I so do love being able to keep up with each and every one of you via Facebook. If you are not a personal friend of mine on there please friend me I would love to be able to keep up with you too.

Thank you so much to all of you for letting me into your lives and allowing me to capture your memories.

I have chosen a favorite photo from all of my photo shoots, they are in sequential order starting with January of last year.

Without further adieu, I give you my favorites of 2010.

And if you made it this far, thanks again! I can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store!

Meet Ms. E. She is a senior at one of the local Gainesville high schools.  Her and I had such a good time together, I really love photographing seniors. They don’t run away from your camera, they follow directions, and you can even pose them! So fun.

Ms. E was so willing to try anything I asked, even though some of my ideas probably sounded crazy at the time. At first we headed to Micanopy to shoot some urban shots.

I love how so many of these pictures turned out. I love the black and white one.

I love the colors in this one.

We headed out to my favorite train track location, and got some fun shots there.

Due to daylight savings time we were losing light fast. But we got some amazing colors in the sky and some beautiful images.

The picture on the left may be my favorite. I was experimenting with backlighting, which isn’t an easy feat since you are shooting into the sun. I hardly edited that image at all. I love everything about it.

Even when I asked Ms. E to go traipsing with me in a small wetland area she was willing to try it. And those pictures are amazing too!

Thank you so much Ms. E, you did an amazing job!

Isn’t she lovely? I love her style, and she is such a sweet young lady.

I had an idea in my head of a stylized session I wanted to do with props, and she loved my idea. And it turned out she was the perfect model for the idea, since she will actually be packing her bags shortly to be an exchange student in Switzerland!

Thank you Miss M, you did an amazing job!