Jessica and hope.
Do you ever have those days you just feel like someone is looking down and smiling on you? That's what yesterday was for me. If I am being honest, I have been so overstressed these days. Life is a balancing act and sometimes my balance is way off. Dare I say that I work too much? Shhhh... don't tell anyone. I don't want the work to stop. I just want to balance it better. So anyway, when I met up with Jessica yesterday I gave myself that talk. "Relax, calm down and see the beauty around you." Oddly enough, the talk worked. Something came over me and I was very relaxed.
Jessica arrived at Belmont finishing off her happy meal which seemed so appropriate for her. She's like a cute, happy kid on the inside. We talked for a minute or two before her sister arrived to help us with the big event.
As we got started Jessica told me she's not photogenic. Excuse me?! I tried to hold off on looking completely surprised at that statement but my eyebrow did that thing that I can't seem to control, where it just raises all on its own. I think what she was trying to say is she's uncomfortable in front of the camera. I completely sympathize with this situation, most of us do. I myself choose to hide behind it verses pose in front of it. Hopefully a look at these portraits and she will change her mind.
Jessica was nothing but pleasant the entire time I worked with her, from the first email to the moment we wrapped up the shoot. The reason I felt like someone was smiling down on me is this. Going into this shoot I already knew Jessica had booked a wedding photographer. She won her bridal session from a drawing I held at a bridal fair. I went into this knowing that I was giving the session time, the Belmont location fee and the editing time free of charge. There was no hope of booking the wedding, yet somehow I walked away feeling like the winner, like I had just been given a gift. I think we are bombarded in life with all the bad things. We see it on the news, read on the Internet, and are even reminded of it on fictional crime shows (they had to get the show idea from somewhere). I really start to wonder what's going on? Why is there so much bad around us? Then God smiles on me and sends me into people's lives like Jessica. She shines with all the good things we hope for. Patience, loving kindness, gratitude, gentleness and good morals. Some of the things she said surprised me in a good way. I walked away being given hope. What a beautiful gift! Hope has no price tag. It's intangible and to give it to someone takes a gift in itself. So I thank Jessica for giving me evidence that there is hope for the good out there. There are people striving to make life a little better, to have a pleasant impact on those around them and to give gifts bigger than you can wrap a bow around. So as you look at the rest of the photos you will see the beauty on the outside while I am thankful for the beauty on the inside.
I sign out being thankful; for my job, my family, the clients He sends me, for Jessica and for assurance that there is good out there! What a beautiful day!
