Business Head Shots - Chicago Area Photographer

My brother asked me to take some professional head shots of him, I was more than happy to.  We are a year and a day apart in age, D is younger.  We have always been very close.  My mom says that I held his hand his first day of school.  :) 

He is a successful, industrial and graphic designer by trade.  D designed my logo and gives me a hand whenever I need advice or honest constructive criticism.  He sent me a text earlier this year (which I saved): " Just checked out ur blog.  Every photo on there looks really really good.  Good color, good composition, good tone and contrast, I see improvement.  Nicely done sis."  This is when I knew I finally got it together technically as a photographer.

He ran the Great Wall of China Marathon this year and really broke through his physical limits.  I watched the video he took of himself while running with awe and admiration.  He inspires me all the time to be a better me.  I can go on and on about my amazing little bro...       
  

 

This first image is my favorite and my kids have asked me to print it out already.  This is SO him, with his huge smile.  I've never heard him say a negative word about anybody but he goes even further... when he hears something negative he points it out.  I very much appreciate this about him.
  

 

 

Thank you D! Love you!

Baptism - Chicago Area Photographer

"If the meaning of baptism could be boiled down to one word, that word would be identification. Baptism speaks primarily of a personal, public identification with Jesus Christ."

My brother and SIL celebrated baby R's baptism.  They personally and publicly identified him as a child of Christ.

God is everywhere and he was definitely present at this moment. He was watching as; baby R enjoyed the sprinkle of holy water over his head, his parents looked on proudly and his padrinos were happy to be part of this moment.

   

Family Reunion - Chicago Area Photographer

I'm working on the images from my family reunion.  My extended family members are waiting for these images so patiently. ;) I am about half way done with all of them. I just love how they came out maybe it has a lot to do with the wonderful time we had celebrating together. 

Love this picture of my family.

My cousin and his fiancé.  My cousin and I are the same age and went through grade school together, we were very close growing up.  I don't get to see him that often because he lives in Cali but it is so wonderful to see him happy.

What a handsome young man my "little" cousin has grown up to be.  Still has a great sense of humor, just like I remember.    

This is my grandmother's brother.  There were 5 generations present at the family reunion.  Pretty amazing.  So much to be grateful for. 

I am still working on the big family group picture. 

If you have a family reunion this summer don't forget to have someone professional or not snap some family pictures.  I didn't even think about doing this, my wonderful Aunt told me the day before that she wanted these pictures and that my dad lovingly volunteered me ;)   So glad he did!

My Birthday Boy - Chicago Area Family Photographer

My little guy turned 4 years old yesterday.  I tell him he is "my special boy" and he certainly is.  Every year on my kiddos birthday's we tell them the story of their birth.  They love to hear it.  We talk about what happened that day and their eyes just light up listening and soaking it all in. 

I tell him that he was my gift.  We thought we were done having babies and then surprise.  I leave out the part about me crying when I found out I was expecting a third baby.  When I was pregnant I didn't understand what a gift he really was.  What I knew, at that time was that hubby was getting out of the Army and we were going to move again.  We lived in South Carolina and I had a wonderful community of friends - it was so difficult to say good bye.  I even loved my doctor.  But at 7 months pregnant we moved back to the Chicago land area.  Even though family was now only an hour away, I never felt more alone.  We had to start all over again.  Hubby had a big break in his job hunt and was hired by a police department.  The catch was he was off to the police academy 3 weeks after J was born.  Monday thru Friday for several months I was a single mother of three small children including a newborn. 

This was the most challenging time of my life.  Hubby recalls this time as, "The most depressed you have ever been."  HA! He is probably right.  I did what I could to make it day by day. 

A friend posted a blog link recently that expressed perfectly what this time was like:   
"It’s getting out of bed and doing the exact same things again, and again, and yet again—and it’s watching it all get undone again, and again, and yet again. It’s humbling, monotonous, mind-numbing, and solitary.
It’s a monk’s work. Mothers are like monks. We do manual labor. We serve others. We nurse the sick. We feed the hungry and comfort the sad. We sing. We teach. We pray and practice, practice, practice patience. The work of a mother is repetitive. We fold the clothes, we wash the bowls, and we sing the same song and read the same bedtime story night after night."
http://momastery.com/blog/2013/05/28/on-momotony-and-sacred-work/

This was a special time in my life in which I was being taught humility, patience and faith.  I wish I would have done it more gracefully but I did it nonetheless.

He is my special boy... he taught me how to be a monk.

On the left, a year ago, when he turned 3. 

Summertime - Chicago Area Photographer

I hope you have a great summer.  We are enjoying it!

I've had a few cancellations recently.  I'm not worried.  Everything comes at the right time.  Plus, more time to enjoy these wonderful summer days that go by way too fast.

 I will be changing my blog date to Wednesdays.  So stop on by next Wednesday to see my weekly post.  I also want to thank you for stopping by, I have well over 500 views every month.  I am going on my third year blogging and it has been a wonderful experience.  When I started my blog I barely had a hand full of views.  It is nice to know that you stop by every week or whenever you can to check out what I am up to.  Leave me a note or feel free to email me: email@angelclarkphotography.com I would love to hear from you. 

For now I will leave you with this: I've been on a journey now for about half a year.  I have felt happiness and peace that I never thought possible.  I have been asked how can this be... don't you have kids?  Do they listen all the time?  Don't they fight?
Yes, I have little monsters... I mean beautiful children... No, they don't listen to me all the time.  Yes, they fight and act... well... like kids do.  The thing is that *most* of the time I don't allow them to disrupt my inner peace and happiness.  Sure I yell at them or punish them but once that is done it is over... that moment is behind us.  Before I would carry that incident with me all through out the day.  Very rarely does that happen anymore.  I do not allow anything not even my children to dictate whether I am at peace or happy.  Only I have that power. 

I read just this morning this great quote; "No one can drive you crazy unless you give them the keys." I have the keys and I am not giving them to anyone else any more especially not little ones who can't even drive ;)