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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” by Marianne Williamson

This is one of my absolutely favorite quotes. It is one of the two that I read regularly after my prayer time. Hopefully it speaks to someone reading as much as it does me. While I am a photographer, I am first a wife and a mom. Sometimes, the roles all get jumbled together and I have to remind myself that I am first an individual and a woman. Cleaving does not have to mean forgetting who we are as individuals. Pamper yourself today. Take that walk. Go to the gym. Put on your makeup and take yourself for a cup of coffee or tea. Maybe even put down the responsibilites of life and put your feet up. While you are there remind yourself that you are…you are enough.

Here…in this place in the middle of the desert was a place I wanted to go for the last two years. And now we were landing.

Never in a million years would I have thought that I could enjoy an event like this so much. I often tend to be on the more introverted side of the spectrum so why it was so important to me to go to WPPI in Las Vegas this year where thousands of photographers descend to the biggest photography convention was definitely out of character. Regardless, I just had to be there and it was worth every obsessive, self conscious, how am I going to do this moment that it required for to make it happen. Let’s just say, I am so glad I did. While I didn’t know what I was walking into, what I walked out with was nothing short of amazing. I was intent on getting my little rear into every session I could to glean from those who have paved the way before me. I saw some of my favorite people that I met through my experience with the SOAR Scholarship and we had a ball. The trip would not have been complete had I not seen my friend and mentor,an amazing international photographer and speaker MeRaKoh and her other half Brian, who guided me up to this point in my journey with photography. There were some amazing speakers there. The place was full of so much energy. The amount of information packed into that venue was nothing short of amazing. For the first time in a long time, I felt like a kid in the candy store. “All of it..I’ll take all of it, my insides screamed.” And try I did. If I were going to be away from my family for an entire week, I was determined to make the most of it!

It was also a time to meet and make new friends as well. However, as far as speakers go, they saved the best for the last day. Sue Bryce delivered a power platform class that hit me at the core. I actually found some water floating around my face during the presentation as well. Yes, I’m sentimental, what can I say. :0 Needless to say, a picture was a must. Every skilled craftsman regularly increases their knowledge through education and practice to assure that their skills are being refined in order to deliver you their very best at all times. This trip was like taking an accelerated college course with all of the universities best professors, then meeting them out for drinks and dinner afterwards to toast being able to say you are creating the life you want by doing something you are passionate about. From the person just picking up a camera (like your first day in college) to the extremely seasoned veteran…this event was a reminder that our dreams should be limitless. Remember to trow down those things limiting us. They can’t succeed if we don’t let them.

Own your dreams…

The holidays are already among us. This year seems to have gone by so fast. It has been one interesting year for me. I hope it has been great for you all as well. But it’s not over yet. Don’t let one more day go by without scheduling your holiday session. The postman is waiting for your cards. I am sure there is a place on your wall just waiting for a new professional image of your beautiful family. I would love to have the honor of capturing that work of art for you! In the spirit of the season along with my launch from the amazing SOAR Scholarship this year I am offer HOLIDAY MINI SESSIONS for a limited time only. This is a great way to experience working with a professional photographer on a smaller scale, yet maximize the quality of your family’s treasured images.

Don’t delay! I can’t wait to see your beauty translated through my lens. Call or email today!

~Charisse

It seems the time has come for another season of change. Two thousand eleven is almost gone as quickly as it arrived. Fortunately, it is not leaving without a lot of growth and some wonderful changes in my life for sure as well as many others. It seems like yesterday Genie was knocking on my door with this amazing gift from SOAR and Me Ra Koh to be one of this past years recipients. And now it is time for this little bird to leave the nest. The beauty of this is I am leaving with a set of wings that have been nurtured and nudged, ruffled and brushed, and prepared to take this flight. Not surprisingly, I felt this post of Karen’s was so fitting for our last business coaching exercise going into the next year. So without further delay, here is my assessment of my journey this year. It was somewhat like pregnancy with all of it’s amazingness, beauty, aches & pains to spring forth new life.

There were several goals that were important to me this year. Coming into this as a mom, like many, who had stumbled into my passion of creating images through photography as well as finding a new sense of self, I was not quite sure how to bridge the gap between the old way of doing things and the new “photography business” way. It was important for me to figure out how to merge these two worlds which up until then, only appeared to be colliding. Of course, making some additional income that I generated with this baby was also a definite goal. I also wanted to push myself to become more visible as a “photographer” and get my images hanging somewhere public. As of today, I can say that I have done those things. I am also extremely proud of myself now that when life throws me curve balls, as this year has done several times already, my method for handling them has changed. I have learned to “flow”. I am happy about meeting my financial goal for sure, but the life & business lessons have proven to be things that I can and do use daily regardless of what follows next. It will also be helpful if I could get a handle on using social media more effectively along with being more consistent blogging on my own blog.

The milestone for me was taking myself out of my self imposed box and setting my own expectations. In other words, keeping with the integrity of shooting what I love because I love it and for no other reason, trusting that from that, everything else will flow. It was a big moment for me hearing people inquire about me doing sessions for them simply because they appreciated my work that they had seen. It felt nice and right, kinda like your favorite pair of nicely worn leather shoes.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that taking my memory cards out of my camera and putting them into my computer would be prefaced with tons of praying, a piece of chocolate, a glass of wine, some finger crossing and a great deal of hope only to be pleasantly surprised with the results. Doing this time and time again really aided my confidence in being able to capture what I had set out to do. Did I mention that I loved business coaching? The insight of these women was amazing. It was definitely what I needed.

The change that I made this year was to focus on who I was in relation to this business and what I wanted it to be in relationship to me. I learned to put things into order without guilt. I also learned that my lens and my business are simply an extension of me. Because of that, I am the only one who can dictate what that looks like or the timelines that I choose to set for future goals.

As for my biggest, boldest dream for 2012, I want to continue to create images that I am proud of and others love which reflect the beauty of life in all is imperfect moments. I plan to continue to grow this business that I have begun to be wildly successful. Maybe my children might want to be a part of it one day. This will take time, but it’s a part of the dream. I want to encourage young people to dream and look for the intricacies in life. I would love to have a show in a gallery. There are a few issues that are dear to my heart and I hope to create a few personal projects that are worthy of a showing. After this year, the road only goes one way…forward. Follow me on my blog to see where this journey leads me.

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