Elusive Ink

Hi friends!  So, usually I don’t write much at all (I just post pretty pictures), and when I do write it’s not about political issues.  But my TeenPact teachings are kicking in, and I believe that this is important enough to burden you for a moment.

First off, inform yourself…here’s some good links to help explain what this legislation will do.

• Here’s a video explaining simply what the legislation could do.

• An article specifically targeted towards wedding vendors/small business owners.

• A more detailed article on Mashable.

Convinced?  Here’s some quick links on how you can help to stop this dangerous legislation:

• Sign Google’s Petition

• Go on Wikipedia.org and click through to their congress lookup for your area, then email your local congress members and petition them to take notice of their constituents and represent with integrity.

• Check out http://americancensorship.org/

Here’s the american censorship website’s form letter that you can send/modify to send to your local congress members:

“I am writing to you as a voter in your district. I urge you to vote “no” on cloture for S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, on Jan. 24th. The PROTECT IP Act is dangerous, ineffective, and short-sighted. It does not deserve floor consideration.  I urge my representative to vote “no” on SOPA, the corresponding House bill.

Over coming days you’ll be hearing from the many businesses, advocacy organizations, and ordinary Americans who oppose this legislation because of the myriad ways in which it will stifle free speech and innovation.  We hope you’ll take our concerns to heart and oppose this legislation by voting “no” on cloture.”

I encourage you to include a personal concern in this message, really consider how this legislation could affect you, and personally appeal to your congress member.

Last, consider encouraging your friends/relatives/countrymen to take action as well.  It literally took me 10 minutes (20 including throwing this post together), and could prevent a decade or more of irritation, frustration, censorship, and government control.

Thanks for your time!

-Lindsey

(OH! P.S. if you think about it…if this act goes through, my entire domain could be blocked from US consumers simply because I posted this blog post and information from other websites in it. Hmm…)

Necessity really is the mother of invention.  In December, I sold my camera. I sold it with the best of intentions of replacing it almost immediately.  I sold it thinking “even if I can’t replace it for a few months, I’ll be fine.”

A few days ago…I was LAMENTING…whining that I didn’t have a camera…complaining that business was slow.  I was having a full blown pity party.

Then God slapped me with a humble stick.  People started sharing videos, stories, and prayer requests “randomly” that reminded me how blessed I am.  And I realized: with or without a camera, God is using me, that’s all that matters.  Once I got some sense slapped into me, I started just being open to opportunities that came my way, praying for direction on what God wanted me to do (without the influence of my own plans or ideas).  BAM.  Yes, I said it: BAM.  Today, two days later: I’ve sold a big-ticket item I’d been trying to sell for months, got FOUR random little odd jobs.  All of those funds combined, make up exactly the provision I needed to buy a new camera.  Not just any camera, not the camera I was going to “settle on” just to have a camera.  No, He provided for my dream camera, plus some.  He provided abundantly. But…not before we had a brainstorming session on how to make some marketing materials and a promo video for elusive at no cost…not before we got a really fantastic date night out of the situation…not before he challenged my grouchy heart and reminded me that it doesn’t matter what I’m talented out, if God calls me elsewhere, or asks me to give it up, it’s my job to obey. He knows better.

Today, I’m thankful. Thankful that (dream camera or not) God is shaping and molding us and directing our steps. Thankful for insurance.  Thankful for a husband who came home from work early to make me dinner because I’m sick.  Thankful for friends and colleagues who gave me an opportunity.  Thankful for my sweet little dog who brings me joy.  Thankful for sister-time with Molly spent watching “Annie” and sipping Starbucks.  Thankful for sooo many things.

I woke up this morning and threw on my nikes and sweats with the best of intentions of going out for a run.  One look out the window and the rain changed my mind.  I know it’s terrible, but it led me here…coffee and leftover pumpkin pie at my side, and sleepy puppy in my lap.  I’ve been busily working on new marketing strategies for 2012.  I do this every December: reevaluate my business year, keep the good, toss the bad, decide what new things are worth my time trying.   This process is what led me back to my sorely neglected blog.  I started editing the look, changing the hex codes, altering the header…and then glanced down at the timestamp on my last blog post.   “I haven’t blogged since August?!”

I couldn’t believe it…the past few months have been such a whirlwind of life and changes that I honestly forgot about my blog.  What’s been going on?  Hmm…well…

I started teaching Photoshop classes for Landry Academy. I have the most awesome class of geeky homeschooled students I could ever ask for.  I mean, what teacher doesn’t want to have debates with their students on DC vs. Marvel, and deep discussions about the latest Dr. Who?

I went to Florida for a Disney-infused vacation week with my family and celebrated my 21st birthday in style!

Brian and I had an epically wonderful “marry day” (as Molly says) and have been blissfully newlywed since 11.04.11!  We were so blessed to have all of our out-of-state friends and family there to join us and had such an amazing few days visiting, catching up, and getting married!!!

 

Then we went to Mexico and spent a week in luxury, ATVing in the jungle, ziplining, speedboating, swimming in the cenotes, touring mayan ruins, eating tons of sushi, trying my first (and last) tequila shot ever, and laying out on the warm beach at sunset.

After Mexico, we came home to a new (to me) apartment, and started getting settled into married life…and while we’ve had a few bumps along the way (why don’t guys ever pick up their socks??)… overall we’ve been blessed with a great transition and love all of the opportunities and adventures the Lord is bringing to us!

 

After a week of settling in, we made whirlwind weekend trip to New Jersey where we had a second wedding reception thanks to my new MIL, and spent time at Ocean City, NJ walking along the desolate boardwalk (with me teaching Brian to swing dance) and becoming addicted to gingerbread frappucinos.

Then, it was Thanksgiving…how did that happen so fast?  It was a great Thanksgiving with my family and some friends-of-the-family…and time marched on through December.

Where did December go?  Don’t ask me.  It seems like Thanksgiving was last week, and now Christmas is already over…and we’re one puppy richer.  Our new addition “Maya” has been such a joy, and instead of exchanging gifts this year Brian and I agreed that adopting her was our Christmas gift to ourselves/each other.  No regrets on that one, she’s the best puppy we could’ve asked for, very sweet temperament, and crazy-smart, already really catching onto the training at 12 weeks old.

 

That leads me to today… we spent Christmas with Brian’s family in New Jersey and drove back in the middle of the night last night.  We enjoyed reading through the first four chapters of “The Creative Habit” on our drive back which inspired and motivated us to tackle this week with ambition, drive, determination, and creativity.

All said and done, 2011 was great, and I’m excited for 2012.   So here’s a highlights of this year and what’s-to-come list of awesomeness. (Because what’s a blog post without a list? huh? That’d be like eating french toast without dusting it in powdered sugar!)

Just a few things that made 2011 awesome:

•  I went to Haiti

•  Wedding-shooting adventure in Eerie, PA.

•  Learned GeoCaching! (Team Tardis!)

•  First two-wedding weekend ever.

•  Style shoot at Lost Creek Winery.

•  Molly.  (Molly makes everything awesome.)

•  Took a spontaneous getaway with Mom, Taylor, Sophie, Declan, and Molly to Masanutten Resort, and explored Luray Caverns.

•  Got to spend time with my best girlfriend, Grace, TWICE!

•  Planned our wedding!

•  Spent many hours gluing tissue paper flower petals.

•  Turned 21…discovered I love cappucinos with Bailey’s irish creme.

•  Married the love of my life! (And was serenaded in a field…)

• Went to Mexico with my Husband!

•  Strengthened relationships, and met new friends.

•  Had the opportunity to help with several amazing Love projects.

•  Shot with a 5dmkii for the first time.

•  Decided I was never shooting without a 5dmkii again, and sold my camera equipment on faith.

•  Began learning to shoot film.  (I’m in love.)

•  Went through the holidays camera-less and ENJOYED the break.

•  Continued to grow in my relationship with Christ, and had some huge breakthroughs and blessings in learning how to prioritize my time.

Those are just a few of the awesome things that 2011 held.  Now, what’s in store for 2012?  Well, for the most part I couldn’t say…but here’s a few things that are planned:

• The Grand Tour — Mediterranean Cruise!  And check out who’s teaching workshops! ;)

• 1-on-1 photoshop mentoring.

• Another epic style shoot event, and a charity style shoot!

• Weekend trip to NYC (and determined to see Wicked on Broadway).

• Running a 10k by the end of the year.

• Competing in the DC Swing Fling with my husband!

• Learning how to make Sushi.

Aside from that, the sky’s the limit…We’re going into 2012 excited for new clients, new opportunities, and continuing to enjoy and face the challenges of newlywed married life!

 

I’ve been feeling really fragile lately, about my weight, about my business, about my artwork.  As much as I can defend and talk big, the honest truth is that every day my business is still there I praise God, because I know I couldn’t do it on my own.  I’ve been attacked a few times in the past few days, by other photographers attacking me because I rent a speedlight when I need it, and haven’t been able to purchase one.  I’m not a “real” photographer unless I have $12,000 worth of equipment, I guess.  It also took me a while to get past the anonymous blog commenter who felt it necessary to say “This work is SH**.”

Today, though, I feel like I need to practice a little of what I preach.  I started a group on Facebook a few weeks ago just for healthy lifestyle support…I was finding myself getting more stressed and overwhelmed by the demands of daily life, and started neglecting myself, eating what was quickest, having meals inconsistently, spending 10 hours straight in my chair staring at my computer.  I thought “Maybe there’s other women out there, who won’t assume I’m not busy because I’m not a mother, or because I’m young…who won’t downplay and demean my stresses and struggles.”  Enter Pursuit 31 — a random invitation to this group of Christian photographers has really opened my eyes to a world of Christian fellowship of Women that I have never seen.  As great and encouraging as that group is, I’ve been hesitant to get too involved for several reasons…the main one being that if I’m going to spend time pouring into relationships, right now I feel very convicted that God wants me to prioritize local, tangible relationships and step away from the multitasking.  Still, I wanted a daily support and accountability group so that I would remember to eat regularly, drink water, and take an extra five minutes to cut up an apple, instead of pouring myself a third or fourth cup of coffee.  Selfishly, I started what was (at first) so eloquently called the “Monthly Health and Wellness Goal Support Group.”  No, that’s not a mouthful at all!    All I can say at this point is that the Lord has taken my selfish struggles, and changed my heart, and formed this group into something that I could’ve never created.  The credit is undeniably His, and how He managed to pull my focus away from myself and continually put these Women into my thoughts, prayers, focus I couldn’t explain.  All I know, is that I have been given the precious gift of seeing these women vulnerable, and all I want and pray for is restoration, peace, and richness of life for each of them.

In the past several weeks, we’ve all come together for a common goal: wellness.  Spiritual, physical, emotional wellness. Daily support and reminders to keep our eyes focused on our Creator, and our priorities in the right order.  The group that started with 4 of us, quickly snowballed into 29, and while we started out talking about our weight, and measurements, and daily calorie counts…soon enough we were talking about our pasts, our daily struggles, the things that distract us from Christ over, and over, and over.  These beautiful women began to let down their guard, and share things that they had admittedly never shared with anyone else. They became an encouragement to each other, and to me.  We started posting scripture, and encouraging quotes, whatever it takes to get through another day focused on the right things…all in combination with making healthy lifestyle changes. The group name is now “Koimesis” meaning to rest or sleep in greek (the name of the inn I hope to open someday) and I realized that all of the things I’d been praying to have the opportunity to do “someday”: to connect, to encourage, to pray for and fellowship with other women, and be a reflection of Christ in the lives of my family and friends…were right in front of me.

Thanks only to the Lord, these awesome women, and my amazing family…I can blog today about how fragile I felt.  Empowered by Christ, I can speak about how insecure I am daily…and how excited I am to be going through the daily journey of growing closer to people, and ultimately growing closer to my Savior.   I’m so thankful to have the gift of freedom from worldly bondage as long as I choose to accept it…which I don’t, always.  Sometimes I selfishly bind myself to the wrong things, including insecurity, but God always pulls me back to Him.

Before I wrap up, I want to share just a little of what has been on my heart that I shared with our group last week:

…the biggest thing being that we should not look for our satisfaction in anything of this world…not children, or our marriage, or even our health…we should look to be satisfied in Him, and he will order our steps to give us what we need in all of the other areas. —-

the bottom line is…the Lord IS Truth, and I feel like as much as he despises the “big” sins, the “little” things that “aren’t so bad” that we can justify to ourselves and be okay with, and be comfortable living with is even more of an assault to him. Because if we can find peace and be comfortable living with those “little” sins, then we are comfortable living with little voids apart from Him in our heart. I feel like when Jesus said “if you are lukewarm, I will spit you out” he wasn’t talking about people who are “lukewarm Christians” in a religious, legalistic sort of way, he wasn’t talking about people who don’t attend a service once a week, or aren’t “on fire” by postmodern standards. He was talking about people who claim to be believers, and have intimacy with him, but live justifying and comfortable with the sin in their life. They are “okay” with cohabiting with that sin, and feel like they’re “doing just fine on their own” salvation-wise. The more complacent we can force ourselves to be about our sin, the less we crave and need the Lord, and I feel like as much as he wants us to be truly intimate with Him, and hungry for his Word and his guiding our steps, if you are not going to be craving him in that way, he would rather you be cold and distant to Him, because at least there’s still an acknowledgement in your life that you *need* Him. Without the two extremes, people easily find themselves living content with their external displays of religion, and their “little” sins, and manipulations, and “little white lies” — and God is insulted by that, it is an abomination to Him, because by living a life that reflects that we’re “doing just fine on our own” (regardless of what we SAY to other people, or how much time we spend “in Church”), we are basically saying that we don’t really NEED his Wisdom or Salvation. This really challenged me this morning, to admit that I need Him in everything, and I will never find health, spiritually, mentally, OR physically with self-discipline, but if I turn things over to Him, He will satisfy me in ways ice cream and fettucini alfredo can’t. The evidence of Christ being my passion, my obsession, the center of my life carries over to everything else, and that doesn’t mean it’s less hard, but it does mean that next time I think about “cheating” I will also realize that “little sins” like cheating and putting poison into the body that He has entrusted me to care for, and be a good steward of, are an assault to Him. No judgement here, I’ve fallen a lot, and I’ve been looking to my own strength for the “willpower” to say no, when what I should really be chasing is a desire for deeper intimacy with my beloved Abba, who will satisfy me, and carry me through the pain or discomfort.

I also challenged all the girls in our group to do some self portraits, as an exercise to boost their esteem, and help them to focus on the good parts of themselves instead of the bad parts (like we tend to do.) — I figured I better start with myself!  So, yesterday I took 30 minutes, in front of my favorite wall, and set my camera timer and took self portraits.  Have a wonderful day!

Some of the beautiful photos from this year’s stylized photoshoot.  Many thanks to Lost Creek Winery for providing us with a beautiful venue, Jamie D’Agostino Makeup Artistry for all of the hair and makeup, and Narima’s Cuisine for providing an amazing catered dinner.  Also a huge thank you to our models:  Annie, Mike, Karina, Raheem, Sam, and Lucy  and to my awesome friend Julia who came out to help for the day, and my wonderful fiancé Brian who helped make it all happen.