It has been a dream of mine for over a decade now to own a photography studio. Earlier this year, with the collaboration of two dear friends of mine, I was able to make that a reality.  Sarah, of Sarah Bray Photography, and I met about 8 years ago or so years.  We met through mutual friends and then became closer when I started dating my husband - who happens to be her husband's best friend.  Early on in our dating history we did a lot together as a couple, but unfortunately with the addition of more kids for each of us, our couple outings have become almost extinct.  That said, Sarah and my friendship began to blossom shortly after she had her second child.  She had been given a camera from her husband and fell in love with the craft.  She developed her skills and has become in my humble opinion, one of the best wedding photographers in Orlando.  

Through our love of photography, our kids, our husbands, and other numerous areas we have in common, we have built a long lasting friendship that I cherish.  Since the day we met, Sarah and I have joked about going into business together (albeit at first we talked about an event planning company), but the stars never quite aligned and we went our separate ways in business.  Sarah's business developed faster than mine as I have always split my focus between photography and mental health counseling.  And although I often second shoot weddings with Sarah, weddings were not (are not) my main passion. So, needless to say a true business partnership did not form.  

That said, as we both day dreamed of owning a studio, it dawned on us that sharing a space may be the right path to follow.  We are after all not direct competition and neither one of us needs to utilize the studio on a daily basis.  So we started looking at spaces and realized that in order to get the type of studio we wanted, that it may be advantageous to bring on a third person.  Sarah posted to our women's photography group and Rebecca, of Rebecca Jill Photography expressed interest.  We all met for lunch and it seemed like a match made in heaven.  With Sarah focusing her business on weddings, engagements, and boudoir and my focus being on beauty portraits, head shots, and model development, Rebecca's focus of newborns, babies, and families seemed to hit a perfect trifecta of the photography industry.  

Before I officially signed our lease, Rebecca and I had the opportunity to fly together to New Orleans for PPA's Imaging Conference (a professional photography convention).  Flying out there and rooming together gave us the perfect amount of time to connect and bond before becoming studio mates - in fact some of the commonalities between us was eerie!  Now, almost a year later, I consider Rebecca a very close friend - not just a studio mate.  And did I mention that her newborn photography is phenomenal!    

I really feel so lucky that the stars aligned and that I was blessed with such amazing studio mates - and friends.  I feel such an energy when I am around these women and we constantly push each other to think outside of the box, challenge ourselves, and reflect upon our journey.  We have learned a lot so far this year and we are anxiously awaiting the renewal of our lease - at which time I think we will FINALLY be planning an open house (An idea we have discussed many times this year, but hit a lot of roadblocks that have forced us to wait).

I am glad to be able to introduce these wonderful ladies and I encourage everyone to check out their sites (just click on their pictures and it will direct you to their pages). 

Images © Jess Regan Photography 2012

It's amazing how much of life is a mind game.  It is all about believing in yourself and challenging the word impossible.  I am a huge fan of inspirational quotes - despite almost always butchering them - and use them throught my day, week, month, year to continue to motivate myself and to get myself out of a funk.  There are many days that I wake up exhausted, wanting to throw in the towel, knowing that I didn't get everything checked off my to do list, or that I haven't quite found the rythym in life which allows me to dance gracefully.  It is on those days that I need to remind myself that life is good and that I am in control. 

I cannot control all variables in life - stopping a rainstorm, curing illness or injury, creating money from thin air - but I can control my attitude around it.  How we react to things handed to us in life (good or bad) is up to us.  Will we do it gracefully or will we be boastful? Will we let it crumble us or lift us up?  How are we going to react is our power.  Now let's be honest - we are human and it is natural to have a negative reaction to a negative event.  I do not expect anyone to be able to constanlty be happy go lucky and let the bad role off your shoulder, BUT it is imperative to work towards changing our attidue as soon as we notice that we are not happy.    

Every day can not be perfect.  And although the quote "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" is a great one, the reality is sometimes life hands us rotten lemons and no amount of sugar is going to make them taste good.  So when you have a day where it feels like everything is going wrong and you think to yourself "can't this day just be over" - stop yourself and realize that every day is a gift and the amount of days we have on this earth are limited - so throw out that rotten lemon and start anew.  What can you do in your power to turn your day around so that you can enjoy the remainder of time you have?     

One thing I am most guilty of is getting upset with myself that things are not happening for me at a faster rate but if I sit back and reflect on my life I would realize that if the flood gates opened right now that I would drown.  I have to take down the walls of the dam piece by piece and let the water slowly ease in.  This will allow for a smooth flowing current that I can handle for the length of time rather than getting swept away by the current.  I am huge into metaphors and analogies, so you just have to bare with me if that's not your thing, but it helps me better visualize my life.

If we stare too closely at the door in front of us that just closed, we may not see the windows and doors that are open all around us.  Or better yet, if we don't see any doors or windows, what stops us from pulling out a [fill in the most appropriate power tool for the job] and creating our own door or window.  If you want things to happen in life, then sometimes you have to make it happen.

I truly believe that a lot in life is simply mind over matter, so if you say you can't then in the end you won't.  It is time to really start believing in ourselves and pushing just outside our comfort zones.  It's time to make things happen.

Although my hope was to blog several times a week, I am certainly falling short of my own expectations.  This is a growth edge for me as I learn to balance all the things life throws at me.  I felt like I started on a good pace - perhaps not perfect, but acceptable, but yet in the past month I have yet to find more than a couple minutes at a time to try and blog.  

I have started a few entries, only to sit there unfinished waiting for me to have a few more moments alone, but the editing and shooting come as a priority and then the stories become old - or at least that is the excuse that I give.

Being a small business owner is a challenge.  There are so many things that you have to learn and attempt at mastering - not just the craft of photography which includes shooting, lighting, retouching, posing, etc., but marketing, bookkeeping, advertising, managing workflow, budgeting, purchasing, selling, keeping up with business license, insurance, equipment...and then throw social media on top of all that - it makes my head spin.  It's not that I dislike writing - in fact I love the idea of sharing my thoughts with others, who may want to listen (or read), it's just that it doesn't always get to the top of my priority list.  

In the past few weeks we have traveled to Georgia to visit family, had two sick kids whom I stayed home with (and NOTHING gets done with sick kids), a car that died down on me (in the middle of a crazy intersection) which lead to unplanned car shopping, a husband away on travel, and a handful of shoots and events.  And then throw training for the marathon on top of it all and my time has been spent (and then some).  When focusing on the priority of work, I always have to put shoots, editing, and proofing way ahead of social media because my clients are top priority.  I cannot justify having a new blog entry if I am short on time and am fighting the clock to get clients their images in a timely manner.  And since health (and sanity) is a big priority I cannot pull all nighters like I used to do prior to kids.  

I then find myself with weeks passed and no entries.  The question is, what do I do?  I like the idea of vowing to overcome this hump and write weekly, but until I find the natural groove (which is hard to do with a one and two year old), it seems like that may just be failure waiting to happen.  The next question I ask is do I simply put blogging aside and decide not to have a blog until I can truly commit to it?  And that doesn't feel right either.  So for right now I just hope you all bare with me as I settle into my groove.

I am going to start playing some catch up to showcase some past shoots that I did this year, which never made it to the blog because I was in between the old and the new.  I also have so much to talk about in regards to health and fitness, family, and upcoming events.  I hope that this week  I can sit down and really explore these topics in a written form.  Until then, here is a little bit of what has been keeping me busy!