This is incredible! Watch and be amazed.
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bragging rights
All I really wanted to say is that I have two VERY pretty sisters. I can brag on them right?
Ok, and I’m really liking the border. Anyone else?
just stop
Anyone who lives in Lynchburg, or has visited it once or twice, knows that we have some pretty spectacular sunsets. It can take your breath right away. Normally during these delicious moments or seconds as the sky is on fire, I am driving. If I’m super lucky I will even have my camera sitting next to me. I then proceed to try and capture (failing miserably) the wonder that is starting at me through the windshield. Well, that is just dangerous, and stupid, as I swerve down the road with a huge camera extended over my dashboard. Most of the time my windshield is streaked with bugs and dirt. Then these images either get deleted or lost on my hard drive never to be looked at again, because I horde images like you wouldn’t believe. Well on Sunday, first day of the year, I actually stopped. It was a quick stop, but I got out of my truck for once, music and heat still blasting. Snapped a few pictures, hopped back in the truck and drove off into the sunset…literally. 
My mom texts me a quote almost every morning. Dedication, I know. That’s because she is so wonderful. Here is this morning’s.
“Rather than look for meaning in breathtaking moments, we should find meaning in every breath we take, and make every breath meaningful.” Julie Ackerman Link.
Let that sink in.
This got me thinking. How often do we get cough up in the business of life. America and most other first world countries are so fast-paced. It makes me sick. We crave it. We always have to have something in front of use, something to full up our days. I am queen of this. In the car, music is on. At home, music is on. On the computer, forget it. There are always 5 or more windows open, the poor little machine sounds like a airplane taking off, and I have my cell phone glued to my side corresponding with 10 people via text. Ok, I may have exaggerated a little, but you get the point. How often do we take the time to sit, be quite, and just think or read. Again I say Quietly. Maybe I’m just talking to myself here.
Make time. Time for quiet. Time to let your brain relax.
Back to the quote. Yes, treasure those breathtaking moments, but don’t make life all about them. Because we are so fast-paced, we need those breathtaking moments to capture out attention, and it normally only lasts for a moment, that’s why we call them that. Or, that is my though anyway.
Take this image. It may not be the most breathtaking photo, but you get the picture. This sunset was a breathtaking moment. It made me stop.
And now this photo. First a little background. I took 3 weeks off from anything involving my photo business. I was losing creativity and needed a break. During Christmas while I was home, I did NOTHING. And when I say nothing, I mean it. Slept in most days. Totally bummed it. Took 2 hrs to get ready instead of the usual 30 minutes. It was nice. The last day I finally went out in nature, something I had been meaning to do all week, and hung out with my dog. That sounds like such a manly thing to do, but hey, it was refreshing and relaxing. As I was leaving the house, it started to snow. It was magical. It was quiet. I took my camera out too, for the first time. We walked through the woods I played in as a child. Visited the forts my siblings and I would spend hours in. Reflecting on a simpler time, when technology meant nothing to us and we entertained ourselves with sticks and old buried “treasure” aka junk. We came across a field I used to ride my horse through. Then, it was spotted with a few fir trees and you could see from one end to the other. Now, it looks like a different world. Kinda like one you might find in a C.S. Lewis book. It was completely overgrown. It was a quiet little wonderland. I sat down on a carpet of needles and started working on my New Years resolution list. Cody soon joined, being the loyal and loving dog that he is. Right here. I found meaning. Breathing in the cold chilly air, alive and healthy. A dog so loyal and loving at my side. The quietness and memories. ” we should find meaning in every breath we take, and make every breath meaningful.”
I hope you find meaning in every breath and make every breath meaningful this year.
It’s a good goal. Right?
AM
score [thrifting magic]
Oh hello there.
Today I was inspired to blog. I was catching up on some blogs and read a post by the lovely Amanda Carver. It was about old things. I love old things. Just like she does. She wrote a post about it..can you see where I going? Ok good. Thanks for the inspiration Amanda!
On Sunday I went thrifting with a friend. It was wonderful, not only spending time with her, but also finding some stinkin’ amazing deals. Here’s what I majorly scored on.
All of this that you see cost me a whopping $11. That’s right. I gave her $15 because I felt like I was robbing her. I know, I’m soo generous. Here are a few reasons why I love these things. They are old, handcrafted, and 90% of it is made in another country. I’m going for an eclectic, world traveler kinda feel for my apartment. Go ahead, call me a poser. Ok, moving on. Here is how I put them to use around the apartment.
Great throw blanket. My grandmother used to have a bed cover that was similar to this only blue and the color of this couch. I always thought it was so ugly. I’m pretty sure I would now use it if it was still around. FYI this is my grandmothers couch. My dad grew up on this.
Love this little guy. Can’t go wrong with $.25. Total win.
I have been on the search for the perfect kitchen counter tins. I found them!
They are super fantastic.
This one is fun too. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be a book end, but that’s what I am making it. Kinda reminds me of India. A place I would like to visit one day.
Fun little fact. This is a German ice bucket. Seeing as I am 1/2 German (I think), I thought it was a nice thing to have. If course I didn’t find out what it was until after I bought it.. Those hair combs I picked up in Africa and never quite new where to put them. Guess what, now I do.
Another fun fact. This little tin was my grandfathers. Think it’s either something from the army or boy scouts. I LOVE this picture of my dad and aunt dancing. And my dad’s stache? Such joy going on there. The other is of my little sister and brother and I. They were sooo cute! Recognize the couch in the background?
Fun frame yet to be filled and another useless yet cute trinket.
Turtles hotplates? I say coasters.
New toilet decor. Hand carved in India by skilled craftsmen from Himalayan Shesham wood. That’s what the label says…
Who loves deals? I love deals!
Okay bye now,
AM
I’m going to Pittsburgh [He has a plan]
This morning I woke, 440am. Just like any other work morning. Alarm going off every 5 minutes because I keep hitting the snooze button. Through tired, squinty eyes, I saw the email icon flashing on my phone. For some reason I always get excited when I see that, then I see that it is junk mail and shove it off to the side. Well this morning, while fighting the reality of having to leave my bed, I decided to clean house aka get rid of some of that annoying mail filling up my inbox. As I was going down the line, deleting as I went, I spotted an unread email I missed two days ago. My eyes suddenly flew open. Subject line read “if you feel like going to Pittsburgh”. A very brief message followed asking if I wanted to go with an outreach team to capture their time serving in Pittsburgh. Sure, sign me up I thought. But noting that it was 2 days old, I figured I had missed out on the opportunity. Wrong. Throughout the morning, while on break at work, I got most of the logistics and found out that tomorrow I will be heading to PA with a team from Brentwood Church with hearts full of love for others, to reach out in a game of Flag Football (I have no idea what that is), and show the love of Christ to inner-city Pittsburgh.
God is just blowing my mind today. Let me just tell you a few reasons why. 1. I had requested a long weekend off (this weekend), in hopes of going on a retreat to the beach. But with some timing issues and a few other things, I decided not to go. Well, now I have a free weekend. 2. A friend and I had planned on going away one weekend, possibly this one, but nope, she couldn’t go. Hmm ok yeah, totally free. 3. Last night, I told a client I was free to shoot this weekend if the rain interfered with our shoot today. Great, we would just plan on that. Well this morning, got a message from her saying that her husband would be out of town this weekend. Hmm, can you see where I’m going with this?! 4. I know this amazing man, who has faith in my work enough to ask me to go, all expenses paid, to capture an outreach team. 5. We leave tomorrow and get back late Sunday night. Yeah that is perfect since I have to be back to work Monday morning. SEE. God is prettty stinkin’ awesome!
Now, I ask something form you. We need LOTS of prayer. Just by seeing how God is working things out, so last minute, for me to go, tells me that He has even bigger plans for this team and this weekend. Pray for open hearts for the team and those we share the gospel with inner-city Pittsburgh! It’s going to be amazing!
Much love and thanks from a joyful heart,
AM
Family Session [Tips]
To be completely honest with you guys, family sessions used to scare the nerve right outta me. Avoiding them was all I wanted to do. It was so discouraging, I would go into a shoot with high expectations, and come out disappointed. Then, I changed the way I thought. Why not just use my love for candid photography and really incorporate that into the session? Well, I think it worked. I love my family sessions now and gather so much inspiration from them.
So, this is for you: Families getting ready to head to a session. Photographers who are scared like I was (ok sometimes still am 
). Or for you, yeah you who are just reading my blog for the heck of it. I like you for that.
Here are a few helpful hints and tips that I hope can give you some new ideas and inspiration.
Helpful Hints:
- Relax. Parents most of all. You have children and they don’t always listen. But it’s ok! Just go with the flow.
- Parents, you look at the camera, don’t worry about your kids. That’s why we make funny faces. So many times the children are looking at the camera but the parents aren’t. Trust me, it looks much cuter having the kids looking off into space than the parents making a funny face because they are trying to get their youngsters to look.
-Bring a fun snack or candy and reward them with it at the end of the shoot. ( I need to start doing this )
- Keep it short or be super entertaining. Children have short attention spans when a camera is involved. If things start to slow down or one pose is taking too long, move on to the the next.
Tips:
Go for the candid. Set up a pose aka give them a little direction and let them do the rest. Then go to town capturing adorable moments like this…
..and this. They are my favorite. No one is looking at the camera, but you don’t even notice because you are distracted by how special the moment is.
Let them be silly. We start off with a nice, everyone-look-at-the-camera-shot and then…tickle monster. I mean, just look at Silas’ (the littlest one) face in the last one. Precious. Fun. Out of the ordinary? Of course not, its them.
Hug it out. Who doesn’t adore a little brotherly love? Hint: be quick, the little brother may not always enjoy it as much as we do.
Be Sneaky. Some little ones are a little camera shy. Find an interesting object, I was lucky enough to have a sweet bike, and hid behind it. When they are least expecting it, snatch a few shots. Or, make it a game of hide-and-go-seek or peek-a-boo. They love that and smiles magically appear. We like those.
This is a successful peek-a-boo photo from last year. No smile, but love the look.
How high can you jump. Make everything a game. Kids love it. Show them how high you can jump and then ask them to show you. Hint: Be fast. Drink coffee, a coke, or any other form of caffeine beforehand. You have a very small attention span window to work with. You will need the energy.
Let them show you their skillzz. Like Quentin for instance. He has mad Tai Chi skills.
How low can YOU go. No really. Go low. Lay down if you have to. I think I was sprawled out on my stomach for this one. Kids like when you get on their level.
Or for this one, I just crouched down low and set my camera on the ground. In love with these kinds of shots.
Put dad to work. The classic throw-your-child-in-the-air-shot. Guaranteed smile or fun faces. That is unless your child has a fear of heights. Then it is just disastrous. SideNote: I don’t think I’ve asked one dad to throw their child in the air yet. Always their idea. I forget otherwise. #memoryloss
Where is the lens Fairy. Have them look for their reflection in your lens and pretend it is a lens fairy. Their expressions are priceless. I’m telling you. SideNote: This was not my idea. I read of a photographer doing it somewhere. If I remembered I would be giving them full credit. Forgive me whoever you are out there who is not getting the proper credit! #memoryloss #again
Give them something to do. I LOVE this series of shots of Charlie. The last one always makes me laugh right out loud every time. This was his end of the session treat. Good idea Steph!
For goodness sake, let them be THEM. You can’t get much cuter than letting them be them. Just make sure you’re there to capture the sweet and silly moments.
Be their friend. This picture is so cute to me. We were off exploring together and this was him telling me to come with him. Makes me smile. Lots.
Greatest accomplishment is when they hug me or curl up in my lap like Reese did by the end of the session.
End on a positive note. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the children I work with to have a traumatic experience getting photos taken. Whether my families ever come back to me or not, I don’t want to stick the next photographer with a camera fearing child. End the session with a positive note. Even when you keep the session short, the younger ones always tend to have had enough after the first 30 minutes. If they start getting cranky that’s a sure sign you need to call it a day. Sad faces don’t look as cute in pictures. Get the family to do something fun. This may be where throwing them up in the air, running at the camera or swinging them can come in handy. Disclaimer: this isn’t my best action shot, but just look at his face! Just a few minutes before be was totally done having his picture taken. Can you believe it?
Now families, go out and have your pictures taken! They are only young once. Cameras tend to do a good job capturing those memories. Photographers, don’t be afraid of those little ones anymore. They really are fantastic. And you, thank you for making it to the end of my post.
Love to you all
AM
New Orleans [In Black and White]
Drum roll please…. After 6ish months, I have finally gotten my rear in gear. There are so many pictures I want to share from my delightful trip to New Orleans this past March. It was quite the experience, as I’m sure you can imagine, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
xoxo
am
finding my J.O.Y [a personal note]
This morning while doing a little reading and sipping of coffee, I felt led to share a little of what God is doing in my heart these days.
Life has been grand the past month. Well it’s always been grand, I just didn’t always notice. Maybe it was the mini beach vacation away from life, but I truly believe God was working on my stubborn little heart.
I always felt defeated. I would have a high streak followed closely by a low one. I would let the littlest things get me worked up. So, anxious about things that I would let it take away my joy. I can’t stand my job. For those who don’t know, I work at a bistro and have to wake up at the crack of dawn to be there. Can you see why I don’t like it? Ok good. But, how can I complain, when I actually HAVE a job, and I have to opportunity to make a living. Man am I fortunate. I get to meet people who travel for a career. I’ve met people from Germany, Ireland, Scotland, France, Africa, and many more that I can’t remember. For someone who loves to travel to new places, that’s pretty sweet. I have the opportunity to brighten someone’s day by just smiling and having a cheerful attitude as I hand them their coffee.
I can’t even begin to tell you how humbled I am at how God has allowed me to photograph so many wonderful people this summer. Before I would let jealousy and pride get in my way, looking at other photographer and their success or not wanting to learn from them. Who cares if they have more clients, have better equipment, better branding, I could go on… We all struggle with that. I know it’s not just me. But what we can do, is learn, be encouraged, and motivated by them. This I’ve come to realize. God gave me this gift, and I use that lightly because I always feel self conscious saying that, and He did it for a reason. Time to put aside my own selfish ambitions.
Now that I look back, I realize that I was just out for myself. I tried a lot of different avenues of photography, many ending in epic failure or just complete dissatisfaction. Everyone seemed to have a nitch, but I just wasn’t finding mine. Although, I have found great satisfaction in my portrait sessions, I don’t feel like those will entirely fill my future. I think I may have found it, my nitch that is, but I don’t want to disclose it just yet. It has become a real passion over the past month, and I think that is the reason for the new-found joy in my life. It actually began inhabiting my mind close to 4 years ago when I wrote a paper about it one summer for a class. I just happened upon it and haven’t gotten it out of my mind since. I’m really not sure what to make of it. I tend to get something in my mind and want it so badly, but when I get it, it’s not all I’m expecting. You ever have that? Um hello, this is America; I think everyone is like that, but I really think this is different. I get an overwhelming sense of excitement when I research or talk about it and some doors are opening that could give me a taste for it.
This leads me to something else. I’m currently reading, aka trying to read, Walking With God by John Eldredge, meaning I started it several months ago and just made it through the first chapter. I get distracted… Anyway, this morning he talked about assumptions. Us assuming that because God wants the best for our lives, that it will be all sunny days with all our desires placed in our lap. Trust me, that’s totally me. Still is. Growing up, pretty much any job I had was literally placed in my lap. Not because I was spoiled by any means, it was because I knew someone who knew someone. Small town. So here I am assuming that this is the direction God wants me to go in, and that I would have already gotten the job I applied for and that I would already be in the place I want to be. You notice all the “I’s” and that big fat WANT in that last sentence? Well it never occurred to me that what GOD wants for me may not totally line up with what I want. Whoa, really? Rude awakening. I seem to be having a lot of those lately. Maybe He’s trying to tell me something, no?
Ok, before this turns into a novel, I shall end with this. God wants what’s best for us. He wants us to be happy, filled with joy. We can’t find that unless we find him first. Walk in a life that is close with him. In the words of John Eldredge, “We can’t find life without God, and we can’t find God if we don’t know how to walk intimately with him.”. My life may not be what I think it will be, what am I saying, I have no idea what I think it to be. But, I do know this, God has great things in store for us. We may not always see it or feel it, but if we walk with Him, we will find joy and fulfillment that only comes from a relationship with Him. So if I can encourage you at all, let me say this. Life is too short to be waisted away on your own desired future. Enjoy the small moments in life. Don’t rush. Smile at a stranger, they may need it. Love more. Pray more, and most importantly, walk with God. Have a relationship with Him. He’s pretty awesome.
Here is one of the many blessing that is in my life right now. My sister Anna! I love her so much and she is living with us! It’s just the three Farrell sisters and I could not be happier for the chance to be together once again. 
Much love and grattitude
A M
The Lauffers [Family Session]
What an amazing family they are. Super sweet, good looking, and quite fashionable. Elle is a natural born model, fyi. I have such a grand time taking pictures of her. They also added one more little one to the clan this year and hes a super cutie, just you wait.
I’m sorry for all the cuteness. I hope you were able to bear.
Much love
A M
Wednesday night outing [life wel lived]
My lovely friend, Meridith, won tickets to see The Decemberists, and was so sweet and kind to invited me to come along with her! Any chance I have, to hear some great music and to visit Charlottesville, I’ll take. The Head and The Heart opened for them and is a new favorite. Great sound. Great music. If you are a WNRN junky then you may have heard of them.
Like with most concerts, you were only allowed to take in point and shoot cameras. Well that was a bummer. I was well prepared to document this outing in style. Fortunatly for me, I was able to bum a camera off of one of my sisters and got a few shots. I was quite happy with the little guys performance and it was fun to use something different. First we stopped at The Flat for some Crepes. Delicious! Have you been? You need to go!
Here are some favorites. Enjoy!
The Head and The Heart – Lost In My Mind
The Decemberists – Down By The Water
love
A M
