A Year in Review – 2018

This is the 5th year in a row that I’ve answered this exact set of questions looking back at the year that is quickly slipping away & looking forward to the new year that is upon us! 5 years in a row – that’s so crazy to think about! It’s really fun to look back now over the past 4 years and read what I was most proud of, what I learned, and what I was most excited for – it’s fun to see the progression of my goals growing and changing.
Shout out to Jamie Delaine for originally inspiring & sharing the outline to this post 4 years ago!

If you’d like to go back and read over what I wrote the previous 4 years I have done this, click here for 2014’s version, click here for 2015’s version, click here for 2016’s version, and click here for 2017’s version!

And if the ridiculous amount of words in this post intimidate you – I promise I’m not offended by you choosing to skip this one (there are over 2,700 words!). In the next few weeks, I have a lot more “pretty” posts planned – my favorite wedding & engagement session images from 2018, as well as some Abby Saturday bloopers, plus the ever-popular “behind-the-scenes” look at me while I’m “on the job”! So, stay tuned!

Of course, if you’re into reading words – let’s dive in!

LOOKING BACK
What are you most proud of this year?
I photographed 18 weddings this year – 15 of which were local. And 15 of which, I was pregnant for (that includes 2 double-header weekends). Did you catch that? The pride really is two-fold with this one: this has been my first full wedding season that most of my weddings have been here, as in, close to home (meaning, I get to come home at the end of the wedding day, download the images onto my main computer, and fall asleep in my own bed), and not 5 hours away in the Twin Tiers of PA & NY. That is a huge accomplishment! Last year (2017), I was about 50/50 – half of my weddings I had to travel for, and half were local. The year before (2016), I had to travel (almost every other weekend) for 90% of my weddings. The transition of moving my business across the state of Pennsylvania has been a long, hard process, but this year, all of that hard work really paid off & it’s been absolutely wonderful. Don’t get me wrong, traveling for weddings is a lot of fun – but it’s also an incredible amount of work. Especially when I shoot in the Twin Tiers, it adds at least 10 hours of drive time to my weekend, it means packing for 3 people (plus a dog), and means working remotely off of a laptop, which isn’t always the most ideal. So, having 85% of my weddings be local this year is a crazy huge accomplishment in my book & I am so proud of where I’ve come in the last few years!
The second half of that pride is that I photographed 15 of those 18 weddings knowing that I was pregnant! It’s not that being pregnant is such a huge “handicap”, but it does present certain challenges that aren’t present when not pregnant. For example, I was terribly sick for the first 18ish weeks of this pregnancy (think 24/7 nausea) – it’s tough to shoot weddings (and be around all the different smells of churches & receptions) while sick to your stomach! My second trimester, I battled different health issues: being potentially diagnosed with gestational diabetes & making huge changes to my diet (which yielded amazing results & I kept sticking to even after I got the results back that I did not have gestational diabetes). My third trimester, was just a mental battle of having the energy & stamina to make it through long wedding days (and feeling like a walrus waddling around). It simply adds a new layer of “challenge” to wedding days & I am so proud of myself for making it through & (if I do say so myself) absolutely killing it.

What was the biggest risk you took?
I officially brought Derrick along to about half of my weddings as my second shooter (not every couple adds on a second shooter to their wedding day coverage). My sister Ellen has been my go-to second shooter for years & I trust her implicitly. There have been times when I had to hire an outside second shooter because Ellen couldn’t shoot with me (that seemed to happen about once a year), and those experiences always left me super stressed out. They just weren’t Ellen. Ellen could read my thoughts, she shot every wedding like she was the main shooter, and was always hustling her butt around to help me & help my couples (in other words, she completely spoiled me in the second shooter department). However, about 18 months ago, as we were looking down the road, I realized that having Ellen on my “dream team” forever was simply not possible. She was about to get married, was pushing her own wedding photography business harder & harder (as she should, but how dare she), and wanted to have a baby (my niece Alethea was born in the spring of this year). Knowing all of that was about to happen, Ellen & I began to train Derrick in the “art” of being a second shooter. He already had a basic knowledge of how the camera worked, but he needed to know how wedding days worked – and Ellen & I did our best to prep him for this season when he would be my go-to right-hand-man on wedding days. I won’t lie & say that things went off without a hitch, there were moments when I just desperately wanted Ellen back instead of Derrick, but truthfully, he did a fantastic job. And it’s pretty incredible to see how far he has progressed over the course of this year. It really was fun to have him along on wedding days – to see into my world & understand why I do what I do. It wasn’t really a super “high” risk (it wasn’t like I was sending him off to shoot a wedding by himself), but it definitely did take some deep breaths & faith that he would be okay when I sent him out on his own to shoot groomsmen prep & portraits! And he really did a fabulous job every single time – I’m excited to see what the future holds for us – as a team!

What did you learn this year?
One of the bigger things I’ve been working really hard on is not simply giving away my time. This is a really really tough one for me – especially with my business. I run a very personal wedding photography business and I feel like by the time I shoot a couple’s wedding, we are besties. Okay, that might be a level above, but we’re friends! I’ve not only met with them over coffee, I’ve usually spent a few hours with them for their engagement session, plus we’ve corresponded hundreds (if not thousands) of words via email leading up to their wedding day. And that’s all wonderful – that’s my goal: to show up on a wedding day feeling more like an old friend than a “hired vendor”. So, that’s not the problem. The problem typically arises when it’s 9pm, and I’m technically supposed to be leaving the wedding, but I want to stay & capture “just a few more photos”. Or when the couple contacts me & asks for a “small favor” outside of our agreement. In the past, I’ve just stayed – what’s the harm in staying an extra hour? Or just said “yes” to whatever a couple asks (extra editing, a quicker delivery time, etc.) And, in certain circumstances, sometimes going that extra mile really does make sense (for example, we shot a wedding this summer during which it down-poured all day long. It was really heartbreaking for the sweet couple who had planned an outdoor reception under the stars, and the venue literally had to bring in bales of hay in an attempt to make the ground in the tent not quite as muddy. Everything they had planned had to be changed (including the location of the dance floor & where the DJ was set up). Did we mind staying later for them? Not at all. It was honestly the least we could do – it was a crazy day!) But, on normal, easy-going wedding days, there is truly no reason for me to stay beyond my contracted time. So, this year, I really tried super hard to value my time (not only time on the wedding day but also my time after-the-fact, because staying later means more photos to edit). I’ve also tried to become more sensitive to simply saying “yes” to everything! Is it a problem that I really should fix (and probably should have noticed while shooting?) or is it beyond my control & something I should bill an additional fee for? After all, my time working in my business (whether I’m out physically shooting or sitting behind my computer editing or doing behind-the-scenes stuff) is time away from my family & my life. And my time is valuable – more valuable than I oftentimes assign it to be.
So, I definitely haven’t arrived, this is something that continues to be a struggle, but it’s definitely something I’m more and more aware of & I feel like I’m doing better at handling.

What do you wish you had made more time for?
I wish I had made more of a conscious effort to exist in photos. Looking back through the family photos we have from 2018, I am hardly in any of them. I know this is a “common problem” for Moms, but I think what made it even worse this year was that, in my head, I just assumed (because of bringing Derrick along to so many weddings as my second shooter & him becoming better & better at working a camera) that he would take the camera & turn it on me from time to time. And because I assumed that in my head, I kind of forgot about making the conscious decision to ASK other people to take photos of ME. I think what breaks my heart the most is that I am in ONE photo from our family vacation this year. ONE. That’s it. Otherwise, it looks like I wasn’t even there. And, as selfish as it might sound, that kind of breaks my heart. When my kids look back at photos of their childhood, what will they see? Lots of photos of Dad, but an invisible Mom & that’s unacceptable.

What are 3 highlights (business or personal) of your year?
1. Finding out we were expecting baby #2 – and that it’s a boy!
2. Being able to spend multiple weeks (spread out over the summer) at Deep Creek Lake & not being stressed out or worried about my business while there, due to the systems & workflows I’ve set into place – the ultimate dream!
3. Being featured in the Captured::Pittsburgh Open Air Gallery in Pittsburgh, not once, but twice this year!

LOOK FORWARD
What “word” do you want to define 2019?
Patience – 1. the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complete, loss of temper, irritation, or the like. 2. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay. 3. quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered; diligence.
This is my word. And I need to print out large copies of it & hang it everywhere to remind me.
In daily life: I am so often fed up & annoyed over stupid little things (my house being a mess, Braelynn not putting her shoes on, us not getting out the door when I want to, etc.). In business life: I am so often anxious over inquiries not coming in fast enough & not having the time I desire to pour into my business (who is this little munchkin pulling on me for attention & doesn’t she know I’m trying to run a business?) So, patience. It’s been weighing on my heart & mind heavily over the last few weeks & I’m officially making it my word for the year 2019.

What are 3 big goals (business or personal) for 2019?
1. Connect more with vendors – on a more regular basis. I need to add it into my workflow.
2. Continue eating THM (low-glycemic) & lose all the baby weight + stay healthy.
3. Transform my blog from focusing entirely on weddings to being more “lifestyle” – talking about marriage, family life, roller coasters, etc.
4. (because I’m always an over-achiever) Exist in photos (see above)

What do you want to stop doing in 2019?
I hate this question the most because I feel like I can never get a good grasp on it.
How can I say this? I want to really dig into my time with Braelynn & begin to make it more profitable. So, I want to stop being so lax with her. She’s such a fun little person & we’ve done “structured” things on and off, but nothing on a regular “schedule”. And more and more, I’m realizing that she needs more structure & more schedule – she simply does so much better with it! So, I just need to get myself on more of a routine, so I can get her on more of a routine, and with the added element of a new baby in the mix, I think routine is going to be our saving grace in 2019!

What things excite you about the upcoming year?
Baby #2 will be here!
I cannot wait to not be pregnant. I feel like I’ve been pregnant forever. And we’ve already established that shooting weddings while pregnant is not the easiest task (of course, in 2019, instead of the “pregnancy” challenge on wedding days, I’ll have the “breastfeeding” child back home challenge). I guess I just feel like I’ve spent most of 2018 pregnant & unable to do things (like ride roller coasters, drink coffee, and eat feta cheese or hot dogs) and I’m so excited about having all of those “restrictions” lifted! I know that having a newborn (along with a toddler) will present it’s own set of new challenges (trust me, I know how crazy that is going to be, especially for the first few weeks), but I’m excited to face them (with an iced coffee in my hand)! It’s not that this pregnancy has been particularly terrible (I’ve talked to ladies who have definitely had worse 9 months than I have had), but it’s definitely been 100% different than my pregnancy (and thus my expectations) with Braelynn. 2019 is going to be such a fun year!

What do you want to learn in 2019?
At the top of my list is: how to be a Mama of TWO. Mama of one is challenging enough most days (especially recently, Braelynn has suddenly been pushing all the buttons), so adding in taking care of another little person promises to be quite the challenge. I’ve talked to enough Mamas & read enough blogs to know that the transition from 1 to 2 is the most challenging transition, so it’s a bit scary. Thankfully, I have a good long break between having baby boy & actively going back to shooting weddings (my business is very seasonal and December is the very beginning of my “off-season”). So, I am extremely grateful that for the first few months, I’ll be able to mostly just concentrate on that 1-to-2 transition. And yes, I’ll still be doing business stuff (trust me, I love it way too much to completely walk away from it for too too long), but it’ll just be on the “light” side.

So, there you have it! If you’re interested in playing along and looking back over 2018 & looking forward to 2019 along with me – here is the list of questions to copy & paste! If you do, would you tag me in your post either on Instagram or on Facebook? I’d love to read up on your year in review & your goals for 2019! You can even grab my graphic to use! Here’s the link to download it!

LOOKING BACK
What are you most proud of this year?
What was the biggest risk you took?
What did you learn this year?
What do you wish you had made more time for?
What are 3 highlights (business or personal) of your year?

LOOKING FORWARD
What “word” do you want to define 2019?
What are 3 big goals (business or personal) for 2019?
What do you want to stop doing in 2019?
What things excite you about the upcoming year?
What do you want to learn in 2019?