If you're new here, welcome! Be sure to sign up for my newsletter over there on the right to stay connected! No spam. Only the good stuff. I promise! You can also subscribe to weekday posts by email! I'll bring the coffee! Thanks for stopping by! If you follow me on Instagram, you probably have figured out that I usually have two munchkins in tow. I am a live-in, full time nanny when I am not behind the camera. The little girl is a new addition. Added two months ago to be exact. She is very happy to ride in the car, with one exception. She hates it when the car stops. Or at times, even slows down. And she is very, well, let’s just say talented, at loudly expressing her feelings on the matter.
I found myself muttering that she was being ridiculous the other morning. That we were almost there. That she wasn’t hungry. That I just changed her. That I knew she was absolutely fine. We just needed to wait until the light turned green. I explained, out loud, as if she was actually understanding, “Emily, sometimes you just have to wait at the red light. You can’t go forward until the light turns green and that’s just the rules, I didn’t make them.” And then God did one of those, “OH REALLY. Would you like to explain your gold star in the patience department? By all means. Enlighten us.” (Yes. That is exactly how I hear God’s voice.)
So it got me thinking. He’s right. I am so restless at the red light too. Not just the ones in traffic. In life.
Most often my waiting is within these seasons of dependency. Seasons where God is stripping me of all other trusts but in Him. So I learn to hold His hand all over again. Because you see, self sufficiency is my default. Given the choice, I will always try to do it myself. I’ve got it. I can handle it. Let me do it. And time and time again, God will lead me to the red light, force me to slow down, to stop, and to wait on Him. Reminding me that I am not in control. That I do not in fact know best, and that if I would just trust Him, there would be such freedom and such weight lifted from my shoulders. A weight that I was never designed to carry.
Sometimes kid. You just have to wait until the light turns green.
Sometimes. You are led to the red light. The Stop Sign. The Yield. Whatever it may be. And that’s just the way it is. I didn’t make the rules. HE did. And you know what? I’m glad. Because I don’t know best. Ever. But HE does. And all I am asked to do is trust that it won’t stay red forever.
Hooray! It’s another inspirational edition of my Home Decor Series! I wanted to showcase my favorite finds of creative and beautiful ways to display your photographs!
When I saw this image, I immediately swooned. I LOVE barn wood frames paired with really modern pieces. I also love how the image doesn’t take up the whole inside of the frame. You could choose to frame a matted portrait as in this image, or I also offer clients Fine Art Torn Cotton prints that would look absolutely divine framed in something like this.
From what I can tell in the image, it looks like each frame is held with a thin twine rope from small hooks in the ceiling. A relatively simple project all in all! I just imagine this being the first hallway one would walk down when welcomed into their home. Their favorite portraits would be the very first piece of them you get the honor to see. This would also look gorgeous hung over the bed frame in the master bedroom.
If you are looking to take on this project, there is a good variety of barn wood frames available for sale on the website HERE.
Do you have an incredible portrait display in your home? Send images to tiffany@tiffanyfarley.com for a possible blog feature.
Happy Tuesday!
I met Mary Choquette last Spring at a Stella & Dot jewelry party hosted by my friend Lauren. (Whose breathtaking maternity portraits I photographed recently and if you haven’t seen them yet, you can see them here!) Mary and I connected at the party, and she has faithfully followed my work ever since. Her support has meant the world to me!
It wasn’t until the last month or so that I have gotten to know her better. When I say that I left her session feeling like it was the hugest honor in the world, I am not exaggerating. She is quite possibly the sweetest and most genuine of souls I have ever met.
She is in the middle of pursuing her dream. She left her full time job to do something that she was born to do. Her passion. And it radiates from her in every conversation. Mary is building her new career as a family planning consultant. She will be an expert in all things maternity, and working one on one with expecting women. She will offer a variety of services, and as she explained her heart over smoothies in Greenwell, I knew that she just could not fail at this.
Mary was in need of head shots for her new website. It couldn’t have come at a better time of year, because the cherry blossoms in Wooster square were in full bloom. It was so perfect.
As Mary really gets ready to launch her new brand and services, I will definitely be having her back on the blog for an in depth interview on why she does what she does. She blows me away this girl. One to watch, is an understatement.
Here are a couple favorites portraits from our casual little session in the park!
Have a great Monday friends!
Posted in: HeadshotsTags: baby planner,hartford maternity,Head shot photographer,Head shot session,Head shots for website,Mary Choquette,maternity expert,Natick baby planner,natick maternity,new haven head shots,new haven headshots,new haven maternity,New Haven Portrait Photographer,new haven pregnancy,new haven pregnancy photographer,new haven pregnancy planner,Tiffany Farley,Welsley baby planner,westport maternity,westport pregnancy,wooster square portrait session
I am absolutely adore a beautifully styled shoot. I love to plan a portrait session right down to the earrings. I make sure the light will be perfect for my shooting style, and that every detail is exactly the way that I want it to be. I swoon over the glamorous.
But sometimes. I just want to tell a story.
A real story. A story that will bring great meaning to the people I am photographing far beyond today.
I met Jessy at City Church in New Haven. The girl has passion. I love that.
Jessy talked frequently about her best friend relationship with her grandmother Susan. I think it came up over a Downton Abbey conversation, because Jessy never missed an episode with her. It was conversations such as those that made an independent girl like me long for a piece of home. So I asked.
I asked to come over one Sunday afternoon and photograph the two of them. I knew it would take convincing. Not everyone wants a photographer they don’t know coming into their house and just photographing their personal life for the world to see. But I didn’t want it to be any different than usual. I didn’t want a show. I wanted them to wear what they normally would, and sit where they normally sit, and talk about what they always do. Because that’s what real memories are made of.
I considered it an important personal project of sorts. I just knew that Jessy needed these photographs. That someday she will be sitting in a rocking chair with her own granddaughter. And her granddaughter will ask, “Grandma, what was YOUR grandma like?” And Jessy will be able to pull these portraits out, and tell her story.
I asked Jessy if she could tell her future granddaughter only five things about her Grandma Susan what would they be…Jessy told me…
she is the finest storyteller you will ever meet. You can laugh till you hurt, or care till you cry, but her story will get you if you have any sense of humor or soul at all.
Oh, and her cooking is nothing short of divine and nothing makes her happier than cooking for her family and eating together. Sometimes she just sits back and watches everyone enjoying themselves and it just fills her heart to the top. Especially on Thanksgiving.
She loves her family more than anything, and dogs are always included in that… and cats… and parrots… well, maybe not the parrot.
She cares about the environment and the earth and will work really hard to make a difference. She really inspires us all to do the same.
And she teaches me that God is nearness and LOVE and not rules and hurtful words; she teaches me that I am loved loved loved, simply because I am alive- not because of all the “made up stuff” I feel I have to do to prove myself.
So here are my favorite images from our afternoon together. Jessy always drinks tea and Susan always has soda pop in a bubble cup. Their beloved dog Eddie likes to be right between them and fought to be in every frame. The laughter was contagious and it was so evident the love and support in their relationship. It was SUCH an incredible honor to be invited into this home, and given a glimpse at such a powerful relationship. I hope you enjoy them as much I do.
Posted in: Connection PortraitsTags: Connection Portraits,Family portrait photographer in Fairfield County CT,Grandmother and Granddaugjhter portrait,Grandparent photography,Grandparent session,lifestyle pictures new haven,lifestyle portraits new haven,New Haven Grandmother Granddaughter portrait session,portrait photographer new haven,the connection between granddaughter and grandmother,Tiffany Farley
If you’re new to this series, welcome! I am a new Evernote user, and decided to create a blog series about how I am using it to rock my business organization! If you’re a small business owner, especially a photographer, I hope this series helps you out! Part One covered the the basics of where I started, the beginner’s resources I loved, and how I have begun to set up Evernote for client workflow. Part Two covered how to use the simple table tool to create a blogging calendar to keep you organized with post ideas so you can stay consistent!
Today I want to share a feature that is a game changer for me. Game. Changer. How Evernote easily works with my email.
After creating your Evernote account, you will see your user name in the top left corner. If you click on your user name, you should see the option for “Account Info” within the drop down menu. In this menu box, there is an email address specifically designated to your Evernote account. Not only can you use this email address to email yourself ANYTHING, but you can actually use the subject line of your email to tell that “note” exactly where you want it to go.
For example. I named my default notebook “@inbox”. If I do not label the email I am sending to Evernote, this the notebook where it will end up. This is really convenient when I am in a hurry, but the point of this system is to stay organized- so if there’s a way to send it to the right place the first time- let’s do that!
There are a few ways in particular I am using this feature:
* Keeping a running emergency todo list. I am a paper todo list girl and found that my Big List in a regular spiral notebook is the best way I keep my list of what needs to be done. But I don’t always have that notebook with me. I used to use the default note app on my iPhone, but found that notes just got buried way too easily. So this email feature allows me to send a quick email to myself and send it right to my Evernote account to my ToDo notebook. (You can also send yourself a VOICE MEMO using the recorder within the Evernote app which I am going to share about next week!)
* Adding Client Email Threads. Within my Evernote account, I have a “stack” of notebooks called “2013 Current Clients”. (When a client’s session workflow is entirely completed I relocate the folder to another stack called “2013 Completed Clients”. Hopefully Evernote will add the ability to “nest” notebooks within stacks soon, but until then this works fine.) Under this stack of Current Clients, every client gets their very own notebook. Within that individual client notebook, I have a note for their workflow checklist, a copy of their signed contract (using Genius Scan for iPhone app), their online payment receipt (using the Evernote web clipper), their contact information, their session details with any visual inspiration boards we have put together (also incredibly easy to organize in Evernote), and now thanks to this email feature I can create an entire note that is the forwarded email thread of our conversations. Attention to detail and planning are really important for my portrait sessions, and finally I have a great way to make sure everything we discuss is quickly accessible.
* Forwarding email subscriptions. I really like to keep my email inbox as clutter free as possible. But there are a few newsletter subscriptions that I get, and there are some that have information I would like to keep. I can easily forward these subscription emails to a designated notebook within Evernote. Depending on the email system you use, you can even set this up where the email is set to forward to your Evernote account automatically.
Once you know which notebook you would like your email to head to, you can send it there a couple of different ways. If you are forwarding the email, you can rename the subject line @chosen notebook, and you can also include your tags like #invoice or #recipe. So for example, I can go into a client folder within my email, and forward the thread to my Evernote email address with the subject line labeled @client name. Within your personal settings, you can also check off that you want Evernote to auto file your emails. This means you don’t have to take the time to adjust the subject line with @chosen notebook. I sent a test email from my phone to my Evernote, with the subject blank, and a client name in the email body. Guess what? It was sent right to her Client Notebook with the subject line “Mailed in Note”.
Evernote…I love you. No really. I feel like Monica Geller.
Ok, ok so maybe not the best picture to illustrate my point. But it’s still awesome.
There, that’s a little better. The wedding planning binder? Remember? Her organization skills are about to be far surpassed by Tiffany Farley my friends.
Coming from the girl who in her first year of business found a client contract in the LAUNDRY HAMPER one afternoon, or the day that I found a missing SOCK hiding under my external hard drive…I would say that I have come a long, long way.
Lesson learned. If you run a business, treat it like one!
Next week in this series of awesomeness, I will share how I have been using Evernote web clipper, the Genius Scan app, and the voice recorder. Hopefully you will find yourself coming up with other fabulous ideas too! And if you do- you better tell me in the comments below! I am still learning the ropes and up for any tips I can get.
Have a great Thursday!!
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Beautiful photos, dear!!
And I had a major LOL at your sock/contract details. haha!.jpg)
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LOVE this! So much!
Xo
M:)
Whoa friend. Annddd I’m crying. This just smacked me in the face, in the best way possible. I feel like there have been so many red lights and yield signs popping up in my life and my instinct it to run right through them and pretend they aren’t there. But they ARE there, and they are there for a reason. A reminder, a pause, a time that I NEED to stop and reflect. Thank you for this.
Ohhh, Tiffany.
“Emily, sometimes you just have to wait at the red light.”
Read that and immediately had one of those heart-smack moments. Because sometimes I’m really good at waiting… and then the other 93% of the time, not so much. Especially when *why* the waiting has to happen isn’t clear. If you tell me to wait until Friday to see you, fine. I can handle that. If you tell me that the missions trip isn’t until November, okay, I can wait. But when He tells me to just wait and be with Him, after revealing an amazing adventure He wants me to go on with Him… that’s harder. There is no magic countdown I can see, no timer set to show me the when. It’s just *trusting* and waiting for Him to make the light change and lead me forward.
Thanks for this post, friend. I may have to make myself a little something that says “sometimes you just have to wait at the red light” to remind me of this. <3