A Year in Review | Cleveland and Chattanooga Portrait and Wedding Photographer | 2020

It seems fitting to start off my last blog of the year with, “Whew, we made it!”

This has been a difficult year for so many of us, no matter what type of business you are in or what you do for a living or if you have just found a way to survive at home teaching your children digital learning. Losing loved ones, missing family and friends, and finding a way to keep in touch with everyone as much as possible with Zoom and FaceTime (isn’t technology amazing?!) is just the tip of the iceberg of all the challenges and hardships we have faced this year.

So right now, I want you to take a moment and think of one thing, just one, that has gone well for you, no matter how small or big it was! And now I want you to take that to heart and remember that even with a year like we have just been through, just having one good thing that happened for you is HUGE! Did you make a new friend or reconnect with an old one? Did you pass a really difficult class while going back to school? Or was it simply realizing not to take the small things for granted?

On Christmas Eve, as my husband, my kids and I were driving to his parents’ house for holiday celebrations, I started talking to him about even though there were difficult spots for us, I could list some small silver linings that have happened for me personally and for my photography. I had planned to do so many new things this year, and it just hasn’t happened the way I had thought. However, I have so many things to be thankful for and it starts with my clients.

Not knowing what to expect this year, I ended up gaining more clients from referrals, had returning families back for sessions this fall, and even started taking some professional head shots and dabbled in some commercial photography for a local doctor’s office. I participated in three more style shoots to create more content for my website and social media and hosted a booth at my first ever bridal show! This has been my busiest year ever for my business! I have pushed myself to learn new things and invested more in education and shooting more to become better at my craft. I made new friends who are also photographers and I learned that they are actually other people in this profession who want to lift you up and help you succeed with the knowledge that they have learned. I also got some much needed professional head shots from my friend, Haylee.

I have plans for some fun new things in my business and have already taken steps to help myself get there. I really want to offer more to my returning clients and gain new ones with some fresh Christmas mini sessions and increasing my senior portrait business, with also shooting more weddings.

Over the last year, my husband and I had started re-watching (for the 3rd time) the much loved television show Friends. We ended up watching the last episode of the last season yesterday and it got me thinking that it was strange how we finished the series again as we are almost done with this current year. But as I watched the last episode, I realized that things may not go the way you plan but you can still rise up to the next challenge and learn how to build your strength and lean back on your core values. You will cry, laugh, smile, and frown but you will remember that this too shall eventually pass, and there are better things ahead!

Enjoy some images from some of my photo sessions of this year! May 2021 bring you peace, prosperity, and hope! Happy New Year!