Earlier this week I received a text from one of my best friends that stopped me in my tracks "My g-ma just passed away! I'm so sad!" I had no idea how to respond or how to deal with the situation, but I couldn't even image how she was feeling about it! I immediately called her, and just listened. It was all I could do. 

I like honesty, truthfulness, and logic; it's one of my favorite combination of emotions! So I'm going to be honest with you...I jumped head first into this, with maybe a pair of baby wings attached to me hoping to goodness they'd help me fly!

Between 2006 and 2007 I had a few friends at the time who were professional photographers and I would recommend blogs or locations that I saw during my outings. I faithfully followed photographers like Jasmine Star as well as my friends because I was inspired by every single photograph they took. The emotions they were able to capture and stir inside of me made me eat up every single blog post they wrote.

The summer of 2008 I purchased a used Canon 30D camera for Mister for his birthday and I was so excited to give it to him! I threw a joint family birthday party and we sang him Happy Birthday while I brought out the ice cream cake and a big box wrapped and decorated. He ripped the wrapping off and was so surprised that I had purchased something that was way out of our gift budget - but I knew he would love it and I was so excited to watch him learn how to use it!

I never dreamed I would pick up his camera, the thing was huge and black; it was very intimidating, but eventually I wanted to learn all the different settings. So we would sit at home and walk around downtown and go over the different settings of the camera, what aperture was, how to expose correctly, how to decide which ISO setting to use, and the difference between RAW and JPEG. I have a note book full of notes that I took trying to soak it all it.

Again I jumped in head first, I didn't want to learn what the Program setting on the camera did, nope, I wanted to learn how to use Manual first. Try and wrap your head around that one when you're just learning about ISO. Let me tell you, the first rounds of photographs...SUCKED! But I was determined!

Later that summer Mister and I took a trip down the Oregon Coast before he switched jobs as our final vacation that year, and this is when I could feel my feet reaching the edge of the ledge. We passed by all these beautiful locations that I wanted to photograph. But I didn't want to photograph landscapes, I wanted someone IN it to photograph. I wanted to capture the same kind of emotions that I had been inspired by the photographs of my friends. I had had enough of passing by these beautiful locations when I told Mister to turn the car around and head towards a red barn that I had seen. I wanted to capture it, and he was going to be my model.

Over that week I learned how to shoot my model back lit and fell in love with the sun. I shot in the wide open sun, at night, at dawn and dusk, in a moving car, out on the water - everywhere. And Mister was my model. At one point I could feel his enthusiasm for being my model dwindling so I told him I was going to ask my windsurfing instructor to be my model. As cute as she was, he didn't want her to suffer in front of my camera so he sucked it up some more while I played with my settings and asked him "Just 2 more?!".

When we got home from our vacation, I was hooked and knew exactly what I wanted to do. A few weeks later I headed to the Small Business centre and applied for a business name and did all the paper work so that I had everything in order. A few weeks after that I set up my blogsite specializing in Children and Adley Studio was born. I jumped head first into this, with maybe a pair of baby wings attached to me hoping to goodness they'd help me fly! Thank goodness those baby wings sure flutter fast!

These are my brand new letterpress business cards! I LOOOOOVE them and love handing them out to people! They are double sided with my information on the front and then my logo repeated in a beautiful pattern on the back. They were designed and printed through Adrienne from Dingbat Press, and I would recommend her to anyone!

I believe in constantly challenging yourself and pushing yourself forward; moving out of your comfort zone as some would say. So awhile ago I wanted to try my hand at something new...studio photography. Meaning: a light set up and a studio of some sort. Since my place isn't that big I couldn't do it at home, and I didn't want to rent a studio space (just in case my idea completely failed), so I decided to work out of my in-laws basement.

I knew I wanted to a cake smash and had a whole idea/look that I wanted to do. I'm just going to be honest...it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. My original backdrop was left at my previous shoot location and I wasn't able to get it back in time so I had to improvise. Thankfully I love the end product! It's a little bit darker then I intended, but I love it just the same.

Ariel was an awesome model and I looove working with her! At first she would have nothing to do with me until I brought out some bubbles, then she just became like butta! Then the cake! Oh gosh, she didn't know what to do with it and we had to force her to put her hand into it. But in the end as you can see, I think she liked the idea of eating something so sweet!

Enjoy!



Thank you Erin + Joel for letting me photograph your little babe again!

It's been on my mind for a long time, constantly there...lingering, knocking, persisting, never letting up. I would try and push it aside telling myself that I couldn't do it, that I'm not smart/knowledgeable/cool/old enough, that I wasn't the right person. But it was persistent pushing even harder against my heart telling me I should, that I must! Eventually I knew I would have to give in. One night I wept. Wept my tears of fear and soaked Mister's shoulder, he had no idea what was going on. I was sobbing so hard I could hardly formulate a sentence beyond "I just.." sob "I don't know if...." sob "I want to but..." sob. He eventually pulled me back and said "I believe in you, that you can succeed in anything you put your mind to, but you just have to do it". Even after crying about it I still didn't even know if I had the courage to really pursue it.

This past weekend while lying in the snow and staring at the winter wonderland that God created, I knew, I could and I would! Without sobbing this time, I told Adam and formulated an actual sentence, actually, more like a monologue, and told him my dreams and what I wanted to do! And once again he smiled and said "I believe you can do it, you have it in you and I think it's a great idea, you just have to do it"!

So hear I am, putting it out there and putting all my fears aside and going for it!

 I'd like to meet up with 4-5 women (any age) who have been possibly thinking of starting something new (whether its a business, a hobby, a lifestyle change...anything!) and would like to meet up once every two weeks to talk, encourage each other, and inspire to be. Be greater, to be who we were created to be, to be the best version of ourselves!

I'm scared that this is going to fall flat on it's face, but I'd rather say I tried then just hide it inside and not do anything at all. So, if you're interested, send me an email and let me know what you're thinking of doing and which days/evenings you're free and I'll set something up for us all to meet within the next two weeks!

These are the last few pictures of my recent from Alanna + Stephanie from the country shoot. These two, even if they didn't know it, encouraged me to put myself out there and ask if you'd like to meet up. :)

As we moved from one location to the next, they giggled and smiled more with each step. Stephanie looked at me at one point and said "I'm not too sure what to do, I've never done this before". I just smiled and said "everyone says that, but it is truly never the case". And clearly they are both naturals in front of the camera.

Before the session I sent Alanna + Stephanie an email with the concept of the photo shoot along with clothing suggestions, so when they arrived with bags full of clothes I think I clapped. (I clap when I really like something!). Once I saw Stephanie's red bennie I asked them to change while I ran into a shop nearby - I knew the perfect accessory! I came out of the antique store holding the red hat box and the wool blanket, everything was now set!

These two take my breath away, from their smiles to their beautiful eyes. They've inspired me to go places I never dreamed of going, and I hope I've done the same for them!



Just one more post left! :)