A trip to Peterborough, and a new mantra for the 2016 season —
A few weeks ago, my friend Jennifer Moher invited me to her studio in Peterborough to spend the afternoon with her and two other talented GTA wedding photographers, Scarlet O’Neill and Steph Hogeboom — and for some reason, I actually said yes.
Those of you who know me will attest to the fact that getting me out of my house for anything other than to shoot a wedding or to take Gus to the dog park is borderline impossible without faking an injury or telling me there is a clearance sale on yoga pants. It is shocking every single time it happens. Even more shocking, though, is the fact that after this afternoon, I’m now dreaming of reliving this day instead of just dreaming of watching Scandal with my dog in my lap.
When your passion becomes your job it is easy to let the romance fade away.
Almost immediately after I got to Peterborough, all of us sat around a coffee table making flower crowns and someone asked if any of us had any goals for the upcoming year. I immediately started thinking of all of the business goals I wanted to accomplish: to book more weddings, to blog more frequently, to shoot more film. Then Steph chimed in and simply said “to be grateful.”
It was such a small but powerful sentence —
Through all of the hustle of running a business by myself and creating for other people, I’ve continually forgotten to be grateful. I find it so easy for myself to get caught up in the little things like shooting at an uninspiring venue, or feeling too busy in the middle of wedding season, but it is also just as easy to stop and realize how wonderful I have it.
This year, I am going to remember to be grateful.
I will be grateful that I am able to have enough clients who put their faith in me so that I no longer have to wait tables. I will be grateful that I create art for a living, and even more grateful for that feeling I get when a couple expresses how much they love what I created for them. Most of all, I will be grateful that my job allows for me to drive to Peterborough on a Monday morning, push myself out of my comfort zone, and photograph beautiful inspirational women who are now friends — and then write a blog post about it just because I feel like it.
