NOTES........

My daughter loves to draw me pictures and often writes love notes too. I was begining to accumulate quite a bit of her words and doodles, and to be honest, I was ready to sneakily put them into the round file. As parents we all do this. We wait until we think it has been long enough that they "won't notice" you took it off the fridge! I am guilty, sure I save things, but come on kids come with a lot of stuff, and you can't save it all! But I had an idea, I thought what if I line the cabinets with her notes and doodles, so everytime I open the cabinet I will be reminded of her.. read her sweet words or see her sweet pictures.. Well that was about 4 years ago and you can imagine the cupboards are getting rather full! But that was the best decision I ever made. I find myself reading positive and uplifting things all throughout my day. When she is at school, its like she is here. Or when she is gone at her dad's, I can just look and read through them. This helped a lot when I missed her.

Even though I see them all the time, this week they really got me thinking about the act of writing. An act that is quickly becoming extint. Notes are replaced by text messages, and emails, Letters are replaced by phone calls or Facetime Chats. The act of writing a letter and mailing it to someone, just doesnt happen anymore.
As much as I love the the technology we have these days, I have to say there is something very endearing and special that comes from a handwritten note, letter or picture.

When I look back over the few notes that my Husband has written me, they bring such a warm feeling of love and happiness. I have placed his notes in special places where I see them and read them, just like Allison's as little reminders of his love for me.

I suggest to keep your relationships happy and healthy, take the time to write a note. Whether it is to your little one in their lunchbox, or to your husband in his day planner, or a little note on the dash of his car. Do this often for best results. Take the time to tell someone you love them, with more than just a text or a call or an email. It's the little things.

Blended Family Mom Tog...
www.karaelizabethphotography.com

A little on the Tog side....

My name is Kara Clark, I am 34 years old and I live in Los Angeles, CA. I am the owner and full time photographer of Kara Elizabeth Photography.  In addition to being a photographer, I am a mom of 4 lovely children,  Ethan, Allison, Kaylee and Emily, with whom I am beyond blessed, and my wonderful, supportive, handsome husband, Tristan.

Of course photography is a big part of my life but I also have many other interests. I love being outdoors, camping  at the beach, hiking and running.  I also love traveling, spending time with my family, and getting to appreciate the little things in life. I am a coffee addict,  I will admit, I need it to get through my day, and I am OK with that!  I love to laugh, and I love to make memories through experiences. I am a firm believer that the glass is always half full,  and life is what we make it. I also believe that working hard, will get you many places in life, and seizing every opportunity that you have is the secret to success.

I always had an interest in photography, I loved looking at images and art. I did not pick up my first camera until I was in my freshman year of college, in 1997.  I was an Art Major at Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was very interested in photography so I decided that I would pursue Graphic design, with a photography minor.  I completely owe my introduction to photography and film to my Photography professor, Jennifer Steensma-Hoag. She introduced me to film photography,  the style, the skill and basics which I have based my photography career off of today.  I was taught under her instruction in the dark room where I lived to work and spend so many hours, learning, helping, and teaching other students as well! But even though I loved Photography, and graduated with my major in Photography, there was still a journey that had to be taken to be where I am today.

When I graduated college, I loved photography and did some shoots on the side with other jobs.  It was always a hobby, a passion but not a career. The turning point for me, came from a place of desperation. Honestly. I was going through a very difficult divorce, I was at a very low point in my life. I was working day in and day out.. not seeing my kids very often and this was weighing down on my heart and I could see the absence of me as a mother in my children's life. I was doing everything possible to support my kids in such a hard time, but they were missing the most important thing, ME. We were missing important moments. We were missing out on the little things together.  At the time I was working as a teacher, one of my other passions, and I was raising other people's kids at my day job while mine were lonely for their mom. I had a breaking point. A moment where I realized I had to make a change, doing something I loved, while still being available to my children, as their mom. I took a huge risk, and decided I was going to quit my job and do photography full time. It was a crazy risk. I could not have done it if my mom and dad did not help me and give me an avenue to pursue this career. 

 From that moment, I have grown a business while seeing every moment of my children's lives.. which are so quickly passing by. It has not been easy. Money has been tight, I have had many late nights, lots of planning, hard work and building a business. But I have NOT looked back since. I have based my career, on honesty, hard work, and always being willing to learn, take criticism and blood sweat and tears. I am beyond fortunate to be doing something I love, and to have others support me in this journey and believe in what I do and to see my work as Art, and a form of expression.

In photography, I love doing portraits. I love finding that inner beauty. That spark, that lovely moment where my subject feels lovely,  is able to let go and  is able to express and show the true reality of who they are. 

I love photographing children, they are innocent, and often times the most uninhibited  behind a camera. There is something about their raw beauty and the way they see the world. So fresh, honest sweet  and innocent.  In a world where we are exposed to see and hear so much hurt, and sadness.. the way a child sees things, it is like being able to relive the world in a new and fresh way.. untouched and pure. Some of the children in my images, are family, my niece is definitely a muse for me, since she was born she is use to Auntie with the camera. Her expressions, and joy for life are just wonderful to capture! She captivates me.  There is something very memorable about capturing your own family as well. Often, I find myself falling in love with the images of my family and kids, and children, because there are so many raw emotions connected to the individuals, or memories of the moment which come rushing back with an image.  It is like hearing a song, an image takes you back to the moment itself, I love that about photography.

I like both color, Black and White and Sepia colored images.  I really feel that each image has its own personality. Whether it be soft and gentle with color, or striking and emotional with black and white or sepia. It really depends on each image as to how I edit them, that I feel is part of the artistic style as well.

As far as gear, I shoot with a Nikon D7000, I mostly use my 24-70mm 2.8 lens or the 50mm 1.8 lens.  My dream camera is the Nikon D600 which I am hoping will be in my gear bag soon!

My deepest passion in life is photography. I only hope that my business will continue to grow and flourish. I would love to be doing more dance and creative photography, possible traveling while doing photography for certain venues. I love creative and artistic photography and I would love to be a part of collaborations with other photographers. I feel that I learn so much from others, while working together and learning from each other. I also want to continue my mentoring for beginning photographers, possibly work with high school students, or college students by providing internships and teaching them, from a mentoring perspective!

If I could choose one word that I would like others to  feel when they see my photography work, it would be creative. I would hope others would see life and creativity in my subjects, how they are captured, and that my work would continue to change in this way, to show life and my love for the art of photography.

Is it really worth Posting?

This post, you might not like it. You might not agree. You might be irritated by it. You might stop reading right now. I hope that you don't because I feel like it offers a lot of insight, and a hot topic for discussion.

I have to be honest with you, some of this stuff I read on Facebook, is just TMI! (Too Much Information)!  I can handle the updates, the kids photos, the what I ate for breakfast photos, the I am going to the Dr, or having a hard time etc, pray for me posts. I am actually pretty tolerable! So its not the basic updates that drive me nuts!

But I have to say I get personally, down right irritated with people who complain about EVERY detail of their lives! It is like they create drama, to have drama, so they can post about drama on their Facebook page!!!!!!!

Not only are people posting about personal drama, they are posting drama that their kids are facing, have you thought about how the internet is going to affect not only your future, but also your kids? Something to think about.  When your child's name is Googled are they  going to find the blog articles you wrote about the day they were potty trained? Are colleagues and friends going to read about their first day of kinder, their first boyfriend or girlfriend? In a day and age where we really haven't lived past this extent of technology, a lot of these questions go unanswered. We are like the trial drug, being sent out by the healthcare system that is just for tests? How will they change it in the future? What parts of technology will come back to haunt us? Or haunt your kids? Besides writings and posts, what about images?

What about your own personal business? How are you posts from your personal profile affecting your business, or your reputation? Sometimes we don't stop to think about what we are posting, because we think it is personal, or private.

I personally have taken a stand against posting negative posts. I think that as a community, a virtual one, we should take a stand against this and make the internet a more positive place for the world we are in today and the world  that we are creating for the future!

I am in no way saying that my life is perfect. IT is FAR from perfect. But every time I post, I think about what are others going to think when they read this? How is this going to affect my community, what is the purpose of this post?

When I went through my divorce, I was forced to filter EVERYTHING. For legal reasons, and for personal reasons. I realized how much damage I was doing with saying negative things. It had a downward spiral reaction, not only on myself, but on my children and my environment.

I knew something had to change.

I know that when I read certain posts, on the negativity, the one's that elude to,  "I want to quit, the I am done, the My life is over or the hate posts", I am absolutely turned off. We all have a personal circle of people that we trust, and love. Sometimes that is only one person, But we need to use them. Use them as a filter, a wall to bounce information off, so we can make the most sound choices in posting what is right and what is necessary.

I know that someday, my kids will outlive me. They will search back through my photography work, my Facebook comments, my magazine articles, and my blog posts. I want to make sure that I leave a legacy that they can be proud of, one that will fill them with good memories, and laughter and moments we shared. I also hope that it might leave a glimmer to a life that was lived, fully, happily and in a positive way to those who surrounded me!