Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

Yesterday we celebrated the holiday weekend with friends in St. Pete. It rained, it sunned, Erik dove off a moving boat after our new dog jumped overboard. We boated. Here’s a few scenes from the day, all taken by Nate…

Happy 4th of July!

There’s something really cool happening right now, as you’re reading this, here in Florida. And, if you’re looking for something positive and fun and helpful to do this weekend, you should take a look at this…

A woman named Lauren, who started the organization Lauren’s Kids, is in the middle of a 500 mile walk from Aventura to Tallahassee, Florida to raise awareness for Sexual Abuse Awareness Month. She’s been walking since April 2nd and will continue walking until she marches on the steps of the state capitol on April 20th where she is hosting a rally to encourage and support the passing of pending legislature to protect children from sexual abuse. You can track where she is on tour here and keep up with the entire trip via photos on the Lauren’s Kids Flickr page.

Her mission (as stated on the Lauren’s Kids website) is to prevent sexual abuse through awareness and education, and to help survivors heal with guidance and support. As a survivor herself, Lauren understands the painful journey to healing that victims of this horrible crime endure and this walk is not only to raise support and awareness, but also to symbolize the long and arduous journey to healing that every single victim goes through. It’s a really amazing undertaking and Nate and I are sad that we won’t be able to walk with her tomorrow as we’ll be out of town but for the rest of you here in Orlando, you can join her in her walk through our city and show your support by spreading the word as well as donating to the cause.

I’ve never publicly told anyone about this but I know someone who is a sexual assault victim. When I was very young probably about 5 years old I had a friend and I used to play at her house all the time. She had a baby sister, a pet pot-bellied pig, and a dad who stayed to himself in the den most the time. I never felt unsafe when I was there. A few years ago my mom told me that the baby sister admitted that her dad had been sexually assaulting her for years since her infancy. Her INFANCY. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I was so close to danger. I couldn’t believe a dad could do that to his daughter. I couldn’t believe it could happen to someone I knew, in a house I played dress up in. This cause of Lauren’s is great. She inspires people like my friend’s baby sister to speak out. She helps children know that they shouldn’t hide in shame and that their abusers are the criminals, not them. This is something happening in our neighborhoods, in our backyards, and it needs to stop. And if you’re looking for something to join forces with, Lauren’s Walk in my Shoes is a great thing to help out with.

Lauren will be starting her walking in Orlando tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 7:30am and will be a featured speaker at the Sexual Assault Treatment Center in Kissimmee at noon. She’ll also be at the big public library downtown at 2pm for the SAAM Event with Orange County Victim Services where Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is going to attend and walk with Lauren for a little while after that. She will be ending her walking on Saturday at the Festival Bay Mall at 6pm. Visit the Lauren’s Kids website for more info on how you can get involved! And please, if you would, share the word on facebook and twitter.

(all images copyright Timothy Beckford and Sara Kauss, used with permission)

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I feel like I have so much on my brain today. On my soul is probably a better description. Because after everything is stripped away… the emails, the responsibilities, the product orders, the google analytics, the meetings, the sales, the marketing, we are left with the art. And the art is what has been heavy on my soul this week. We all start creative businesses because we want a way to do our art and get paid for it. In the field of wedding photography I feel like I’m standing in a crowded room on a chair, trying to shout louder than the other shouting people in the room.

SOMEONE HEAR ME. Please?

Last week I posted an image by Hugh MacLeod on the It’s Better Together Blog that hit close to home for me. He is the author of an inspiring book I recently finished reading called “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity”.  His illustration is of a sandy shore and the caption reads: What a lovely grain of sand you are. Too bad your lying on a beach.

I’ve been in a self-imposed paralysis of fear this week. A fear of failure. A fear of fading away. During this week before our first ever trip to WPPI (An international wedding and portrait photographers convention in Las Vegas) I’m feeling the weight of 15,000 photographers all in one place. Most of which will have absolutely no idea who I am. I’m having freshman year of college flashbacks. I graduated from a class of 19 and started college at a college of 45,000. I spent the first week in a daze as I realized that I could drop off the face of the campus and no one would notice. As I tripped over my feet and fell on my face in front of a bunch of strangers who barely noticed I thought…

CAN ANYONE SEE ME?

We are working on some business-changing things. A desire I’ve had for over a year is being set into motion. And it’s terrifying. Because I might fail. And because I don’t want to lose focus on my dream as the logistics of the real world take over the planning. And yesterday, after reading some of my new favorite design and art blogs I felt inspired to make a few confessions about myself: I am not all the photographers that inspire me. And I cannot ever be them.

SOMEONE HEAR ME.

So this week, as I’ve given in to my hermit-ing tendencies, I’ve become more and more excited to discover who I really am, what my art really is, what it can be, and how it can positively affect the world. So please be patient with me as I peel back the layers and expose new skin. Give me time to get used to this new vulnerability and excuse any dust that I may create. Tomorrow we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled postings. I needed to take a day to not care about our stats, or our analytics, and just post a post for me. Thanks for hearing and seeing me.

For an on-going iphone series of mine on skies