7 years ago my oldest son, Sayer, was born. My business was born shortly after he was. It was very humble beginnings and it makes me smile when I think about it now. The only pieces of equipment that I owned were my medium format film camera and the 35 mm film camera that I got when I graduated from high school. I didn't own any lights and it had been about 10 years since I took a class in lighting. To be honest, I was ill prepared. I took one marketing class in college and still have to carry my 1's when doing simple math. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I did have heart, determination and a magnificent little baby boy to photograph. And so it began, slowly and surely in my living room. I scheduled sessions while Sayer napped (crossing my fingers that he would go down on time and stay down). I rented lights from a local equipment place until I could afford my own set. Every time I had a session I had to clear out all of Sayer's toys and make our house look clean and perfect. It was stressful but it was also really exciting. I think my excitement was contagious and I started to get busy.

By the time Finnian was born I had my first studio and my business was doubling each year. I still remember shooting a session two weeks after Finn was born with him strapped to me asleep in a sling. I started to get better at the business side too. Then in a blur it was a bigger studio, employees, better equipment, numbers to analyze and financial goals.

Fast forward to now...

I have begin to realize that the bigger my business gets the less I like it. It's not the work itself that is an issue. The problems arise when I get detached from the details (and it's all about the details by the way). Things fall through the cracks and the relationships suffer.  What I love most about my work is the relationships that I have with the people that I photograph. That's where the magic is. So where does that leave me?

I have decided to go back to the basics and run my show on my own. I am not going to have an assistant in between me and my clients.  I'll find some help here and there but nothing that jeopardizes the relationships. I will have to shoot less but the people that I photograph and I will enjoy it more. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous but I'm also excited (again). This is definitely turning out to be the year of new beginnings and change. I started to write "wish me luck!" but, no, I don't need that. I have everything that I really need to make this work. All I need is my honest, true, present self and people who will let me photograph them. It's a new day. I feel better already and it's only just begun.