How is your ‘new normal’ going? Mine is weird for sure. Some days are good, the sun is out, I get exercise, play with Charlie, make a delicious dinner and feel good and hopeful. Other days everything feels so heartbreakingly sad.

How is your inner critic treating you? Feeling like you "should" be creating-producing-enjoying-delivering-parenting-teaching-working-loving better? (Yeah I struggle with all that too)

Our voices are one of the things that connects us to each other. Sharing our stories helps us feel less alone. I realize that each of us is individually experiencing this time in our own unique way while collectively there are similarities. Record your story into a voice memo app or other recording device and send it to me!

We’re so confident you’ll love your gallery of images, that any professional portrait session* booked and paid for during the month of March will include an additional image at no cost to you!

(*No Saturday sessions offered. Valid on any professional portrait option - Headshot, Radiance, or Personal Branding - booked and paid for prior to April 1st. Please inquire with any questions.)

“The first headshots were so good and there was such a high level of trust after that first session, it was a no brainer to come back and get a wider variety of shots to use across our materials. We were not disappointed to say the least!”

Often when I talk to women about their stories it is only now in the looking back that we are able to see the lessons that we learned. This story is one of those. A time of deep learning, that when it was happening felt unbearable. Mary just had no idea how she could make it through all the grief she was sitting with at that fateful period of time in 2005. She speaks now with a voice of clarity and wisdom from all that she learned back then. The ways that it shaped her life moving forward and how she got to now - in a whole new life she would never have imagined then. 

In this podcast we listen to multiple voices from women telling their stories of vulnerability or power about their hair, how a hair cut changed their life, what other people thought about it, changes that came over time or abruptly, that impacted their life and how they felt about themselves.

What better for a family session than the cutest happiest ever toddler and Maine’s best bright foliage backdrop?!!? Groutfits!! Yup you read that right - this personal family inside joke turned into an idea they wanted to capture and keep. Because the family that laughs together, wins!!

What does it mean to truly listen to what another person says even when you know it will oppose your own beliefs? Especially when we are talking about belief systems. How do you learn from it? How does really listening change you?

More and more, I crave that intimacy. The raw, the real, the unrehearsed. I know I’m not alone in that desire. We spend so much time trying to achieve, accomplish, amass. We’re striving to meet standards - set by ourselves or society - and this often results in negative feelings. We judge ourselves harshly, we feel rushed and overwhelmed by life, and are often disconnected to our sense of self. The real work, I believe, in this lifetime, is to reconnect with our soul. To live from a place of integrity and hope.

Jessica is an amazingly loving happy person who also has Trichotillomania, which is a hair pulling disorder. She has battled it since she was 10 years old. Her anxiety and a belief that she would never be 'enough' was pervasive growing up and as she got older it led her to drinking to self medicate. Then there was a fateful night when her whole life was forever changed. She was drugged at a bar and kidnapped. She survived this horrible experience, but it left it's mark deeply on someone who already dealt with anxiety daily. Trying to come out from under the PTSD that she now had was an even bigger battle.

Jessica tells us a remarkable story about how she came to finally began to take her confidence and her life back through EMDR work, what the voices in your head tell you versus the truth that you have to keep telling yourself, and how every day she still works hard to believe the real truths about herself.

People are flooded with images everyday and they are making fast judgments about them. Do you want to make a statement that is clear and concise about who you are and what you stand for? Do you know how to do that? Portraiture is more than just posing and good lighting. I’m here to help you convey exactly the message you want to - and I’ll help you hone in on that message if you assistance with that, too.

In this episode you will hear what happens when we re-write our story. Elizabeth tells us about how she learned that she has the choice of choosing love over fear everyday.

Our stories can be healing if we allow ourselves to see that transformation can happen when we choose to rewrite our own stories and learn from them instead of continuing to let them hold us back. Not an easy task, but something that can change our life for the better!

"Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you."

When you know how you want to be seen, I can help ensure that my camera captures you in your elements.

Go listen for yourself. It is another strong woman sharing her strengths and struggles both. Just the kind of thing that I really get into. Cause that is what life is all about. Well, that and damn good donuts.

Leigh tells us so many things about life in this podcast. Like what it’s like to put your heart and soul into your business idea. What happens when you put your head down and work your butt off for a dream? What it’s like when that dream unexpectedly takes off a light speed. How the universe can hear you. What does it mean to listen to your soul when it comes to eating? What real parental support (even when you are a grown up) looks like. How hard it is to raise a kid as a single mom. And what’s it is like to lose someone you love.

…as I talked about celebration I was looking out the window. I could see the trees covered in snow and they were all glittery in the sun. I kept thinking that they looked like a giant party. A celebration of life. And I had this overwhelming download of feeling in that moment. I felt deeply connected to the reality that I, by the fact that I am breathing here now, am a joyous celebratory being.

This episode is a re-release, a second telling of this story. When I first released this episode I didn’t have a producer and it ended up being quite long which I think kept some people from listening to it. So I wanted to have my collaborator, Stephanie Cohn listen and produce this episode for me. She did a wonderful job and I love the results that we created together. So here is the story and portraits again. I look forward to hearing what you think!

I know that even 5 years from now these will be priceless. When they are both 16 and their priorities have totally changed. They may not want to dress up and play tea party much longer. They whisper secrets and draw pictures and cards for each other. The world shrinking to just that moment and that conversation, right then. They are a reminder that friendships are deep and important. But also that being in the now is the way to live.

Jeannie had a regular life, just like all of us, until one day it changed in an instant. Her entire life hung in the balance and no one was sure what would happen. What Jeanne talks about throughout the interview are the small steps she took to put on foot in front of the other. The little things along the way that ended up being huge milestones in her recovery. Small things that were big celebrations!

Boundaries are super important and learning how to put them in place is a skill we all need to have. Come listen to the story of a journey that went to far and how she came back. How Sarah learned this lesson in a big way. Sarah tells the story of what happened to her that set into motion a string of events that completely changed her life. All because she just couldn’t find the way to say, No. It is a wild ride and a valuable lesson for anyone who listens on how far things can go without out that one word.

…Moment by moment an entire year was being fed back to me in this slideshow. Just every day ordinary things. Eating breakfast, dropping Charlie at school, playing outside together, hanging with the guinea pigs, seeing her with her friends, looking at flowers and the ocean and all these little things…all in one beautiful presentation of our lives. And suddenly it wasn’t ordinary at all. It was quite the opposite. It was extraordinary.