Opening new doors | Atlanta Child Photographer

I don’t know about you, but 2020 has been kicking my butt. Recently, I saw a meme on Instagram that was funny and very accurate.

Man, I’ve seen some stuff this year that I didn’t think I’d ever see in person. It’s like history is repeating itself and we are all getting an education and getting beat up at the same time. I would love to say that this time has been easy for me and my family, but it has not. We’ve had so many ups and downs that I feel like we’re on a rollercoaster. As they say, nothing lasts forever, so we’ll just continue to do our best while we ride it out. 

I like to think of myself as an optimistic realist. To me, that means I understand the situation but I know that it will get better. How long that will take, I don’t know but eventually, it will get better. A few months ago, I had planned on re-opening my business. The cases in Georgia had started going down, so I figured I could still fit some sessions in considering that I didn’t have to be up close to my client. Low and behold, right when I decided to re-open, the cases started going back up. Ugh. So, I just stayed put, working on ideas for my business. 

This shut down of our lives hasn’t been a total waste. It has brought me and my family closer and it had allowed me to do all of those little things that I needed to do for my business. I started seriously thinking about what it is that I really want to do. Where do I want to take my business? I believe I want to do more artistic sessions. I will still photograph regular sessions but for those who want to be styled and leave the creativity up to me, that will be something a bit new. I’ve done it in other sessions but not to the degree that I want to now. These sessions will be for creating large statement pieces to hang on the wall. I want to create art where people will walk in your home, see the piece and say, “Wow!” I want the piece to be a story within itself. I want it to be something different than the usual fare that you will cherish. 

Now I know not everyone wants that and that’s okay. I just want to make sure that it is available for those who do. In the meantime, I will be launching a model search to help me create images for my website. My website will also be overhauled with a new look and feel. It’s actually pretty exciting to me and I can’t wait to get started. In addition to this, I am starting to work on my second book. This will be another coffee table book. The subject matter will be about Black fathers. As you all know, I absolutely love photographing men with their children. Now I can showcase those images in my next book. Since school has started, it has limited my shooting time a bit but I’ll get through it. Also, the weather is changing so I need to work quickly to take advantage of the nice weather. Lately, it has been quite rainy so we’ll have to see how it goes. My current goal is to release the book on Father’s Day. We’ll have to see if that is a bit too ambitious. 

Anyway, as you see, I am trying to make the most out of this time. My son has turned out to be rather self-sufficient. I still have to check up on him periodically, but so far things have been good. Well, it is only the second week of school but I’m trying to stay optimistic. During these trying times, just know that this is not your forever. This is a moment in time that we must use to the best of our ability. It could be a time for you to rest, to bond with your family, to learn something new or take care of something you’ve been putting off. It’s your time and it’s up to you what you decide to do with it. Whatever you do, I pray it works out wonderfully well for you.

“Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” – John Wooden