Mother's Day Giveaway

I want to start off by thanking you. I am floored, touched, and honored to have read the stories that came pouring in over the past few weeks. I read stories of women so powerful, so funny, so courageous; it has been humbling to say the least. 

To those of you who submitted your story- thank you. Thank you for trusting me with your journeys, your tales of everyday struggle and happiness. It was truly courageous of you to step forward and put yourself out there and I feel honored to have read each of your stories. 

You are all amazing mommies and women!!

To those of you who nominated a friend, a family member, or just an inspiring woman you know- wow. Just, wow. You ladies are an inspiration yourselves. The way you spoke of these deserving women in your lives, the way you shared their struggles and triumphs as if they were your own, was awe-inspiring. 

To each and every single person who emailed me with a submission or a nomination- thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I want you to know- that I took every single story to heart. I laughed, smiled, and cried along with each of you as I read your stories.
I wish I could choose you all...

This has been a difficult task to say the least. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into, what I was opening up my heart to. I honestly have thought about this for days- carried each of your stories with me- imagined living a day in your shoes.

I wanted to run this contest because Mother's Day is something near and dear to my heart. Becoming a mommy was one of the most intense struggles of my life, and when my daughter was born, my view on life was forever changed.
Q made me a mommy.
For that, I am forever bound to her and forever grateful for the opportunity to have been given such a gift,
such a miracle.

I knew, however, that I wasn't the only one out there with a story. I feel so very blessed, that I wanted to give back. To acknowledge that being a Mother isn't something that should ever be taken for granted,  over-looked, or (god-forbid!) under-appreciated! ;-)

Several of your stories touched my heart in a very familiar place. I connected with many of your journeys and felt that I could relate to your struggles and joys, having experienced some of them myself. 

There was one story, however. One story of a woman that struck such a deep cord.
This woman's path was one that I have not walked down, one that I could not imagine. 

This is a woman who is a complete stranger to me, but I can tell you this much about her:

She is stronger than I am. 

So drum roll please....

Surprise & Congratulations to 

Jenny D. 

Jenny, you are one deserving mama!! Let's go take some pictures! 

Please contact me at jmaconachy@yahoo.com to set up your session!

And thank you to her amazing cousin, Suzanne for the heart-felt nomination.

(How about a little love for Jenny, huh?
Seeing as how she's probably the most shocked about this announcement than anyone!)

:)

Love to you all, mommies or not.
xo -J

"Jordan"

I had this picture in my room as a child that I absolutely loved. 

It was of a blond little girl playing in a field of yellow and white wildflowers.

It was a picture of a painting- the edges still ragged from where my mom had ripped it out of a magazine. (Reader's Digest, maybe?) 

She gave it to me because the title of the picture, in tiny quotations at the bottom, was "Jordan". 

I loved it so much that I put it in a frame (torn edges and all) and kept it on my dresser.

I used to stare at it every day, wishing that I was as beautiful as the little blond girl
 and wondering why some famous artist would choose my name of all the names in the world.

(I hated my "boy name" growing up)

I have no idea who the artist is and I had completely forgotten about that picture until I started culling these images from a recent session with my little one.

These pictures are literally my "Jordan" painting come to life- beautiful blond girl and all. I have searched endlessly for this painting on the internet but can't seem to find it anywhere. If I ever do stumble upon it, I will share it with you. 

But for now, I am just sitting back and basking in this "full-circle" moment. :)

 

Mother's Day Giveaway!

Becoming a mommy has been one of the most rewarding, yet most difficult experiences ever. I truly treasure being a mother (even amid the tantrums and endless piles of dishes) and I salute and appreciate mothers everywhere in a way that I never could have, before I entered the realm of mommy-hood myself. 

With Mother's Day approaching, I wanted to give back. I am offering one FREE (completely free- no up-selling or hidden fees here!) mini session to one deserving mama. 

Think that could be you? Do you know someone who fits the bill? 

Here's what you have to do:

Email jmaconachy@yahoo.com by April 25th.

Be sure to include:

1. Mother's name & ages of children

2. A short story about why you/she deserves this photo session

That's all! 

*Date of the photo shoot TBD by the lucky Mama & myself, but will need to take place within the month of May 2013.

I will announce the winner on April 26th right here on my blog!! :)

Good Luck, Mommies! I can't wait to hear your stories!!!

Giving Back

When my good friend, Liz Labianca asked me to help assist at her group "Momtering" (mom mentoring) session, I was more than happy to tag along. 

I'm not going to lie, though, I was nervous. What if I got in the way? What if I wasn't as helpful as she needed me to be? Good Lord, what if one of the moms asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to! 

I was nervous about being put on the spot in a room full of strangers.

Well, it was a lot of worrying for nothing. Yes, of course, there were times where I second-guessed my helpfulness, times when I was put on the spot with a difficult question, times where my knowledge was challenged. But guess what else? For each moment where I felt useless, there were 5 where I felt that my presence was helpful. When challenged with a question, after stopping to think, I found that I already knew the answer. These amazing moms were enthusiastic, at times overwhelmed, but always eager to learn and apply their new-found knowledge. I learned something from them and their fearlessly confident teacher, Liz.

This experience made me realize that although there is always more to learn, I need to stop questioning where I am in my journey, and embrace it, share it.

 

I'm not sure if many of you know this about me, but I used to be a teacher. Participating in this day of learning made me realize something that I always used to instill in my students: teaching others something you have learned only instills a deeper understanding within yourself. 

 How quickly I had forgotten the power of sharing.

So thank you for the continued inspiration, Liz. 

And thank you to all of the moms for reminding me of this invaluable lesson.

 In honor of "giving back" I am going to start taking limited questions from you! Simply email your photography-related question to jmaconachy@yahoo.com. I'll be selecting a few questions once a week/month (who knows, I'm still working all of this out!) to answer right here on the blog,

starting...NOW!

So, ready? set? Submit!
(You can request for your name/info to remain private!)

*Included are selected images from Liz's Momtering session with my settings attached. 

Happy Shooting, friends! :)

Photog Play Date

70 degree weather, gorgeous sunset, secluded location, and good friends...

 Love shoot dates with my photog buddy, Liz!

Our girlies are just so cute together...they could have been sisters, don't you think?

 

 

Gratitude

Holy Shmoly- what a day! I am so very humbled...Thank you so very much to Photographer's Connection for choosing my image to be in their Top 10 and to Learn Shoot Inspire for also choosing this image as their "Image of the Day"! 

 I think I'm floating on cloud nine...and I don't ever want to come down!

If you have a second, please check out their pages and show some love to the ridiculously talented photographers who's images blow me away and inspire me daily. I am honestly so grateful and honored to have such talented peers who constantly push me to "try harder" and "be better".

Yippee!! 

Happy Monday!

Looking Back

So this month over at Rock the Shot, they asked us to look back on the past year and choose our favorite photo. For shutter-happy nuts, like myself...choosing one photo from (literally) thousands is NO easy task.  Add the fact that this past year was the first year of my photography journey and the job becomes even harder!

I decided to take this task seriously and really reflect. I narrowed my favorites down to a handful of photos and then sat with each one for a few minutes. There were several from the beginning of the year that meant a lot to me sentimentally- but I was still learning and, well...let's just say they were "technically lacking" ;-)

I finally chose this photo. It may look like any other cute photo, but this image actually means a great deal to me. This photo shoot was a turning point for me in my photography career.
I remember the day I took this picture. I was trying out a new location, I was paying attention to the lighting...it was the first time that everything really came together for me as a photographer. It was the first time that everything I had learned and had been practicing finally clicked. It was this photo that took me from dipping my toes in the photography pool to diving in, head first!

And so, for that reason alone, it is my favorite image of 2012.
...ok, so maybe the cutie pie in the picture doesn't hurt either! 

Head on over to www.rocktheshotforum.com to see some other amazing submissions...you will be blown away!

Sicky Boo-Boo

Today we had a full blown "sick day" at our house. Mommy sick, Q sick, and Daddy out of town. (boo!)

As the universe would have it- sick mommy wants to lay on the couch while sick toddler wants to act like a crazy maniac. 

I went to extreme lengths to keep this little nutty buddy entertained...including letting her go to town on our playroom chalk wall...luckily chalk is easily removed from floors, couches, toys, skin, pajamas, and all other non-chalkboard surfaces. 

{Sheesh!}

Snow Day

Q's very first snow day.

{She was not impressed.}

...and yes, we had a "hat change". 

:)

 

P.S. Looking for an AMAZING snow overlay? Look no further! The first photo on this post was processed with  Liz Labianca's Pixie Dust Snow Action.