I forgot how much I love to shoot seniors!! This is sweet Haylee! We romped around downtown Knoxville and the UT Gardens for these shots and had a blast.. though we were dodging the out-of-control heat! She handled it like a champ! To see more from this session click on over to the LHP Facebook page!

www.facebook.com/knoxvillephotos

“Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in  relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone”

- MARGARET WHEATLEY

In any business your in, never underestimate the power of reaching out to those who have fought or ARE fighting the same fight as you. No one should have to go it alone. Especially in my industry of creativity. Personally, being a photographer, requires a great deal of inspiration which can be found in anything. It’s everywhere.. if you just choose to look. To me, nothing is more inspiring to me than hearing other photographer’s stories and what inspires them. I love the stories of trial and error and the WHY of what they do. I feel like I get a small peek into their soul when I hear them put their passion into words. I’ve met some pretty incredible people lately in this industry and look forward to meeting many more and being inspired by what inspires them.

I posted the cover shot of this awesome book (Never Eat Alone) I’m reading about this very thing.. networking. I’ve always hated that word.. only for the concept that I thought embodies it…

to me Networking  = smoozing. giving only to earn favors in the future. building your rolodex. creating a long list of “flashy” names to drop when the time is right.

I hated everything about it… until I picked up this book. The author Ferrazzi attempts to shake our thoughts of this concept to it’s foundations and rebuild it with the idea of giving, not receiving… building relationships, not a list of acquaintances… find others who can push you further and make you stronger and others who you can push and inspire. Farrazzi encourages to “learn that real networking is about finding ways to make other people more successful. Working hard to give more than you get.”

The author goes into many more areas of building who you are by surrounding yourself with people who can inspire you and push you to be better. Next time you’re in the area of a Barnes and Noble… hop into the business section and look for orange! You won’t be sorry!

I’m thrilled to get to know other people who do what I do .. just to know them. I’ve heard that this particular market, Knoxville, is pretty cliquish.. which is such a bummer. I was talking wish a group of photographer ladies who know of other markets that have amazing comradery. .  we’d like to see more of that here… so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

I had a great opportunity recently to explore this further at the Knoxville Photog Meetup – Shootout! This was such a blast. There were photographers there ranging in abilities and equipment which gave everyone the opportunity to teach and to learn from each other! I got to know so many people that I hope to build awesome friendships with. Below are some images from that day. The theme was senior portrait photography and the models were perfect! If you are interested in joining the next meet-up click on the link above! Hopefully I’ll see you there!

Wow it’s been a crazy busy 3 weeks! It’s been far too long since I’ve blogged! There is so much to catch up on, but first thing’s first! Earlier this month I got the chance to shoot my first “besties” session. I first advertised it on my facebook Fan Page for senior girls; as a chance to get some great pictures together before heading off to different schools next year. Then after thinking about it, this idea could cover so many more areas. I thought I would love to shoot a “Bridesmaids” session with this same style. As of now we have 13 weddings booked for next year.. hopefully one will be up for it! For this session we roamed around the World’s Fair Site here in downtown Knoxville. I love this location because there are neat structures, large fields and a park. I also love all the shaded areas for those super bright days when it’s tough to get a good shot. Hope your enjoy these as much as I did!