by Shelly | Mar 6, 2014 | personal |
NOTE: My blog has traditionally been all business, but for at least a little while it is going to become intensely personal. During Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, I am participating in a photo challenge. The way it works is that the organizers have given us a list of words, and every day we are supposed to take and share a picture based upon that word. Because I hardly ever do things the easy way, I am also attempting to write a devotional that goes with these pictures. I will probably take the weekends off and will also quite likely miss a few days. Hopefully not too many. Last year I participated in a similar challenge. This link will take you to my 2013 Lenten challenge. This years challenge is entirely blog-based. This year the challenge is sponsored by Catholic Sistas.
Please pray for me and/ or bear with me, and if this isn’t your cup of tea, just keep on checking for portrait posts in between these challenges — or check back in after Easter.
VIRTUE
Virtue
Whenever I think of the word, virtue, in a Biblical context, the Proverbs 31 woman pops right into my head. Do you know her? She’s that ideal perfect woman. We stand in awe of her, but in actuality once we start comparing ourselves with her we feel very VERY inadequate.
In Bible times she was beyond amazing. In today’s world she is the woman who does it all and has it all. I want to be her when I grow up. WAIT! I’m 53 blinkin’ years old.
Here’s how I think Proverbs 31 would describe a virtuous woman in the year 2014:
She is an excellent wife, and her husband trusts her judgement completely because she always treats him well and looks out for his best interest.
She is a successful businesswoman who enjoys her career.
She is a gourmet cook, whipping up all sorts of exotic and ethnic dishes.
She gets up before sunrise every morning.
She takes good care of her employees and treats them all fairly when they have a special need or problem.
She invests well and turns her profits into a farm not too far from home where she plants a vineyard or vegetable garden or an orchard – totally organic, I’m sure.
She works out at the gym to stay fit, and probably has a 26.2 sticker or at least a 13.2 on the back of her spotless mini-van.
Her car doesn’t run out of gas, her bathrooms are all stocked with plenty of toilet paper, and there’s always an extra gallon of milk in her fridge.
She’s the Queen of Pinterest, not just collecting beautiful ideas, but actually DOING them and creating new ones.
She serves in the soup kitchen and chairs the cancer gala.
She dresses impeccably and makes sure her family looks great too.
She has a successful and well-respected husband. Yeah, they really said that smack-dab in all the middle of the descriptions of this woman. WHA?????
She is such a fine artist that people pay well for her designs.
She is afraid of nothing when it comes to the future or getting old.
When she speaks, only wise words come out of her mouth and she is always, always kind.
She keeps her home clean and gets things fixed when they wear out or break.
She’s never lazy — DOH.
Her children are proud of her, not embarrassed to be seen with her at school events or at the mall. Her husband’s proud of her too.
It might be easy to dislike a woman like that if they didn’t throw in that part about always being so WISE and KIND, right? But y’all she’s so dang NICE!
Even if it took a lifetime for her to do everything in the list, just reading it all in one short passage wears on me. Sometimes it motivates me to work harder, to strive for more and better — but mostly it makes me tired. There’s no way I can be all of that. I can’t seem to get past the paper clutter in my office.
What about the many amazing and lovely women who don’t have any children? Those who never married, or if they did, their husband is neither successful OR adoring? How do they feel reading something like this?
What are WE TODAY supposed to do with this perfect PROVERBIAL woman?
We keep right on reading through to the last lines of the verse.
Virtue has nothing to do with doing things and being a financially successful businesswoman. It has nothing to do with spouses or childbearing. It has EVERYTHING to do with verse 30, but most of us are just too tired and intimidated to keep reading by the time we get that far. Here’s what it says:
“ But a woman who respects the LORD, she shall be praised. Give HER the product of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates.”
Ahhh… that’s so much better. Just Honor the LORD. Even a failed Proverbs Woman — someone just like ME — can jump onto the simplify your life bandwagon by flipping over to Micah 6:8.
“He has told you, Oh (Wo)man, what is good; and what does the LORD require or you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Dear God …. If you and I work together, we can do that. Please help me to be fair with others — and to be kind — and to keep my ego in check as we walk through this life together. That is all. Amen.
by Shelly | Mar 5, 2014 | senior guys, senior portraits |
It’s official! My seniors simply have the most beautiful smiles. That’s all there is to it.
Meet Maggi. Taylor High School Class of 2014.
I’ve known Maggi for several years. She is one of “MY” Color Guard Gals, and I’ve always been in awe of how photogenic she is from that movie-star smile to her sparkly eyes. You can imagine how thrilled I was when she called to schedule her portrait session.
We had a little bit of fun. Maggi is quite the fashionista!
I fell in love with her gold and taupe maxi dress. It’s dressy and casual at the same time. She could wear this absolutely ANYWHERE and be the picture of class. It looked great both in the indoor studio . . .
and outside in the warehouse.
Even out in the garden . . .
Then after a quick change we hit the SPCcreative Beach House. Quaint, huh?
Her breezy orange and white top, paired with white jeans, was perfect for the beachy setting, but I’ll never be able to look at these pictures without suddenly craving a big juicy Whataburger.
Yep — Whataburger . . . that was her word, not mine. Cutest Whataburger gal I’ve ever seen.
Maggi has a style and personality that can pull off any look, from Golden-Globe-Worthy couture right down to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Chic, and it’s been a joy to follow her through her high school career and to create her senior portraits for her.
Congratulations, Maggi, on your upcoming graduation. Spring break is just around the corner, and I hope you have a FABULOUS time and that you get in some good R&R.
The next few weeks will be a whirlwind, but at least your senior portraits are one thing that’s in the bag and crossed off your to-do list. Now, go have some FUN!
by Shelly | Mar 5, 2014 | personal, special project |
A year ago I participated in a Lenten Photo Challenge sponsored by Rethink Church, an outreach organization of the United Methodist Church. The challenge organizers provided one word for each of the 40 days of Lent, and they the requested Instagram photographs based upon that word. Simple enough … and FUN too. However, I don’t do things the easy way. I took the challenge a step further. Not only did I take the pictures, I also decided to write a devotional based upon that word.
Whoosh! It was such an invigorating experience, but it was also exhausting. I felt like I spent WAY too much time focusing on my Lenten devotionals and I still missed several days too. In fact, by day 32 I had totally pooped out. Here are a few of the images from last year’s challenge.
I didn’t put them into the blog last year, but they are all tucked safely away in a gallery on my Web Site along with the devotionals that I wrote to go with them. Check them out here if you like.
Some of the images from last year’s challenge.
I learned a TON through this process! FIRST, did you know that the 40 days of Lent are really more than 40 days? There are actually 46 days because we don’t count Sunday. WHAT? Leave it to a bunch of church people to do something like that. No WONDER people have trouble understanding how we can take The Bible literally. We can’t even get our numbers straight about the days between Mardi Gras and Peeps. If I had been good at math I would have figured this out a long time ago, but that part’s not important. The important part is that God spoke to me — sometimes we laughed. Sometimes I wept. Sometimes we celebrated, and sometimes He spoke pretty harshly about the life-garbage that I needed to clean up. And I hope and even believe, that those devotions and images encouraged at least a FEW people.
Rethink Church does not appear to be running a challenge again this year, but I did find one run by a group called Catholic Sistas.
I’m not Catholic, but we were saved by the same Jesus. We just tend to focus on different aspects of His teaching. So Sistas… I am entering into an ecumenical journey with you all right now, using the words you suggest for inspiration and playing a little bit of Bible Bingo searching for the words to accompany my photos.
Shout out to the Sistas…. you sound like a group I wouldn’t mind hanging out with for a while. Will you allow a semi-neurotic Lutheran turned Presbyterian turned Methodist to come play?
I’m going to step out even further this time around and incorporate this into my blog — so for a few weeks, my blog which has been 99.9% all about my portrait studio and clients, is going to become insanely personal.
YIKES!
But, my studio brandIS ME, so along with the portraits that support my grocery habit, you get my heart and soul. This is just how I roll.
FRIENDS — What I ask from you is for PRAYER — TONS of PRAYER. This project is hard for me. Just to tell you publicly that I am starting it makes me shake in my sequin covered leopard print house shoes. I’d much rather quietly finish it and THEN share it, when it’s done — but guess what? That’s how all of those someday projects manage to stay in the someday file. Talk about PRESSURE! YOW! Once I publish and share this post, I feel obligated to follow through, and I am the QUEEN of unfinished projects. Did I say I need your prayers? I also ask in advance for forgiveness on the days I don’t get a post up. I’m a lousy blogger to begin with, and now I’m trying to do something every day in ADDITION to running my business — the blog being only one element that is so far behind I can only laugh — because I scare people when I cry.
I can’t put it off any longer — This is Ash Wednesday and today’s challenge word is DUST. Let’s Go!
DUST
Dust, left undisturbed bothers no one. You know exactly what I’m talking about, that thin layer of nasty stuff that we don’t really want to analyze. It builds up so slowly and evenly that we hardly even realize that we are actually being covered up. Before long though, surfaces lose their shine and start to look dull and lifeless. Left even longer, a grittinss sets in. It makes me feel depressed and uncomfortable, even embarrassed. HECK, it sets off my allergies and then I start itching and sneezing.
Then I get grumpy. UGH!
Now, I’m pretty good at ignoring dust for a very long time, especially in dark corners and behind clutter. I’m also pretty good at settling into life patterns where I don’t change my routine. Distractions simply build up, crowding out the more important things like relationships and tasks that actually make some sort of a difference. Bad habits, unforgiveness, ingratitude, pride, greed, busy-ness, they all turn into dust traps. The sparkle is gone. The joy is overshadowed .
And I get grumpy. UGH!
The dust in my soul has been building up, but now that we have brushed up against it, we have left a mark, a big nasty streaky fingerprint.
Today is Ash Wednesday. This is the day we savor our dust and mourn in the ashes of our ruins. We have all messed up our lives and hurt other people. That STINKS!
Many people actually place ashes on their foreheads today as a symbol of repentance and humility, and THAT, I say is beautiful because when we know how dirty we really are, all we want is to be clean.
It’s time to get out the feather duster — maybe the brillo pad.
It’s time for a little house cleaning.
It’s time to get into the Word.
It’s time for a little HEART cleaning.
Pablo Picasso reportedly once said, “Art washes away the soul of dust every day.”
As I embark on this year’s Lenten Photo/Devotional Challenge, I pray that I will shake the dust off my soul and turn it into a shining prism in the big picture window, reflecting Christ’s love on YOU.
See those rainbows dancing around now? Let’s chase them together. I have no clue where this will take us, but I do know that what we find at the end will be better than a pot of gold.
Joshua 7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
by Shelly | Feb 4, 2014 | family, special project |
Meet The DunGums. They’re a fascinating family. Cobbled Together, Empty Nested, and Widely Scattered. I adore them!
I can hear you now. “What kind of name is DunGum, anyway?” you’re asking.
Well — it’s like this. A few years back, Mr. Dunn, the father of three teen-aged sons met and married the gorgeous, sassy and over-achieving Ms. Mangum who came as a package deal with two sons of her own, and they all piled into one big testosterone-laden house. Before long, the older kids started heading off to college, and soon even the younger ones followed. Somewhere in those family formative years, in an attempt to make everyone feel equally a part of their combined family, they light-heartedly took on the name DunGum.
There, you have it. Better than the Brady Bunch, huh?
Of course as time passed, some of the sons started adding special young women to the fold, and for several years we have tried to get everyone together for that iconic family portrait. We came pretty dang close once, too. Pulled their living room sofa out into the front yard and piled it full of people, but still someone was missing and it never seemed right to produce the canvas.
With kids off at colleges all over the country, and holidays split with among other parents and new in-laws and out-laws, ski trips, and knee replacements, anyone else would have given up, but not Lynet. Kudos to her for being open to a new approach.
We realized that we’d just have to catch everyone when we could and build from there.
Our portrait session spread out over several months, but eventually we captured each individual as well as the married and/or engaged couples. together. We shot with two backgrounds every time. A simple black backdrop and a brick wall. Just a little variety but enough consistency to tie everything together.
Once all of our images were created, we selected a wall sized image of each individual or couple as well as smaller secondary prints of everyone. Lynet wanted a variety of shapes and sizes to hang together on one wall, and my print lab did a beautiful job of formatting the selections into thin-wraps — lightweight, ready-to-hang frameless photographic prints with a mounting block centered on the back.
I’ll have to share a picture of the finished wall at a later date. It’s very nice. While it is not a single traditional family portrait on one canvas, the DunGum’s portrait wall does capture the essence of the entire family at this one stage in their life. Isn’t that what a family portrait is all about anyway?
by Shelly | Jan 28, 2014 | event, senior portraits |
What a night of fashion fun and entertainment!
Last night I covered the Be Dazzled Fashion Extravaganza at Taylor High School, where the Bold and the Beautiful Mustangs Strutted their Style.
This Eighth Annual Fashion Extravaganza is one of several fund raisers benefiting Project Grad. Check out our evening here, and then pop on over to the Fashion Extravaganza page on SPCcreative.com to check out all the pictures of the evening and select your favorites.
AND DON’T FORGET TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FASHION EXTRAVAGANZA SENIOR PORTRAIT SPECIAL.
CALL before the end of January to set up your Senior Portraits, and receive a $50 credit toward your final order. We can shoot later, after it warms up a bit if you like, we just need to know you’re going to need a spot on the calendar.
We started our evening with a delightful selection of formal and prom wear.
Elegance is always fashionable, but it’s much more fun to throw in a little mischief and shenanigans. These kids were not at a loss for some silliness and snickers.
Most run of the mill style shows might follow their formal wear with a casual or cruisewear segment, but not in Katy-Gosh-Dern-Houston-Texas.
Nothing but Rodeo Wear will do. And FINE Rodeo Wear at that!
‘ Texas National Outfitters provided most of the clothes in this segment. Is it okay to call boots cute? Theirs are the BOMB! I’ll have to go try me on a pair or two very very soon!
A gal can’t have too many boots …. can she?
In all reality, Texas has two seasons — Not Football Season and Football Season.
Since each of these kids are about to graduate from high school, they’re eagerly looking forward to the excitement of GAME DAY on their respective new campuses.
Again, don’t miss out on our Fashion Extravaganza Senior Portrait Special — It won’t happen again and the calendar days are FLYING BY!
Here’s another link to check out and order all the pictures from the Extravaganza. Enjoy!
