Let's Not Pretend

Okay, so I'll try not to rant, but social media is one of the biggest living lies that we all experience everyday! I just went on a media fast for a week with some other girls and one of the biggest things I learned from it was something I realized after I started to let myself get back on social media when the fast was done. 

Why don't I just start out with a bit of wisdom that I got from my dear cousin many months ago... She said that social media has the effect of depressing you because it only highlights the positive moments in people's lives. Now, granted, sometimes we confess our disappointments, but in general we post pictures of happy times, good memories, and for photographers -- the one good photo out of maybe 20 others. 

After my media fast ended, I didn't even bother to re-download many of my apps that I had deleted... instagram, paper, twitter, snapchat, etc. And to be honest, I was completely happy and didn't miss catching up on other's lives, and I didn't even feel the need to share about mine. It was the most refreshing break I've had in a while. But as soon as I got connected again. I immediately battled depressive thoughts like, "I never do anything cool... I haven't taken any good pictures recently. There's no place I know around here to get such a cool shot like that!" Well, I really had a time with it that night, and even woke up in the morning thinking about it. But God really helped me to realize that I didn't have to be that "perfect" person living a dream life where you ONLY go on adventures... like EVERY DAY! Because it even says in the bible that there is a time and season for everything. There's a time to work, there's a time to take a break away. There's a time to spend more days away and there is a time when your energy and help is needed by other people nearby (like maybe even at home, cleaning the house even!).

And some people seem to have either completely shirked all their duties and they live off of the crumbs of someone else, or they just know how to time their posts to where it always appears like they are out on some perfect vacation or leisure adventure.

And it frustrates me.

Why can't I do this?

To be honest, I've fought these thoughts more than I would like to admit. It's silly, but it's true that social media can so easily fool you to think that someone else's troubled life is the life you have so sought after. And the solution? Well, I'm not going to say that it is to ban all social media. I indeed like sharing my highlights every once in a while, after all. ;) But maybe the solution is in recognizing the problem and having a change of heart. 

Plus, God gave me a song when I woke up that one morning still troubled about my own lame life, that helped to put things in the right perspective. :)

The song that God really gave me was "The Happy People" with "Who but the Christian is happy and free..." But I guess both songs kind of work.

But my main point today is that I'm not going to pretend that my life is perfect. The cold weather actually cancelled the session I was supposed to do Sunday, so I was pretty disappointed and wanted to use my lens somewhere besides my room... so Kiki and I secretly planned to wake up early Saturday morning and go catch a sunrise at the lake because we knew that the rest of the day would be filled with working hard on the house to get it ready for company.

And, no, I'm not going to pretend. It wasn't perfect. I started the timelapse of us driving there and I had it on night mode. Well, those all turned out to be completely over exposed. Whoops! Then the place we walked out to was completely muddy and we had to take off our shoes just to get back in the car. Anyway, we still had a great time.

My little side kick! I'm so glad she's in my life... I'm really not sure what I would do without her.

This man was walking out to a fishing spot and he almost walked right in front of where my GoPro was at capturing the timelapse of the sunrise. I wasn't going to say anything though, but thankfully he was observant enough and kind of stopped and was like, "Ah, you out here taking photos, eh?" and then he walked behind the GoPro. Whew! ;)

But as soon as he walked by I started snapping photos of him and Kiki nearly lost it in giggles... I guess she thought it a little strange to be taking pictures of a complete stranger. Ha ;)

Farewell, Mr. Fisherman...

-MarLeahJoy

VDay!

Shout out to Heather, who gets me all prepared for holidays by sending me decor she made for my room! And 50 cheers for using my 35mm f1.4 for the first time!! :D

This morning I went with Kiki to the lake just to have some alone time. Tonight we are have a surprise 50th birthday for my dad, which means that we clean the house all. day. long. o.O I knew our only breakaway would be in the morning, so we got out of the house early to spend some time with nature.

Plus, I wanted to just get out of the house with my camera and obviously my 35mm! I didn't forget the GoPro, though either... ;) 

Well, back to cleaning I must go! :P The odd thing is that we have to be careful to not rearrange and clean things too much or Daddy might be suspicious that we are having some people over ;)

-MarLeahJoy

Newborn Nolan

I always love it (and get a little nervous) when someone inquires about a session that is a little different than anything I've done... Believe it or not, I have never done a newborn session until now. And it was high time for me to put to practice some newborn tips I learned at a photography workshop.

Look at that sly little smile... ;)

I really enjoyed this session and I'm sooo ready for the family session coming up this Sunday! I went through a stage last fall (probably due to working and going to college full time :/) where I seriously wanted to just give up the whole aspect of portrait photography and basically any photography for hire at all. So glad I'm over that!! (Ranelle told me I would get over it) ;) 

But I also have a little more excitement for this session coming up than normal because I just got an email today telling me that my 35mm f1.4 will arrive on Friday! :) Now maybe a prime lens isn't necessarily necessary for a photographer to have, but man! I've just gotta have at least one! I actually hope that for any future lens purchases I won't get drawn into thinking that I have to have the Prime or L series lenses from Canon. The money spent on something doesn't always mean that there will be a visible difference in the quality. 

-MarLeahJoy

BNSF

Burlington Northern Santa Fe :)

First of all, I find it a little cool that it was the same railroad company runs through town that my Grandpa worked for - the Grandpa I never met in person... :'(

I've been looking up the schedule for the BNSF to see when it will run through town so I can finally catch the video (and hopefully a picture, as well) of the train running over my GoPro.

I will actually be on a "media fast" with all the girls at church for the next week, so I probably won't post anything about it until another week (bad timing :P)

As I mentioned in a previous post though, I have already tried to capture the train thundering over the tracks once before. And the real reason I decided to get up and do this was because of the amazing fog. So I got some shots while I was setting up the GoPro.

There's my little GoPro down there...

And then I waited and waited, and took some pictures of the frost and waited some more...

And yes, my GoPro was under there during the time this picture was taken.

So here's to wishing I can finally capture this little dream of mine this weekend!!

-MarLeahJoy

Sprouts

I did my first photo shoot of a newborn this afternoon! I am happy with the way it went and I know that I got everything my client expected and more. Though I obviously wish everything could have gone smoother and that the baby wouldn't cry once... Who am I kidding?! 

Anyway, after the shoot, my sister wanted to do some grocery shopping at Sprouts... So I did a little iPhoneography while she shopped around and ended up finding some stuff for myself. (Basically, for those who don't know, Sprouts is a grocery store that carries organic produce and other food along that nature) 

No, I did not place the green one there for the picture! Hahaha! It was already there...

Too bad you can only buy one, though! ;P

Boy! Did these bright things catch my attention :) I can't wait for spring now! As if I ever wanted it to turn winter in the first place.

Some special sister in West Virginia is going to get these when we go out to visit in March... ;) 

Oooo! Gelato!

So... I'm going gluten free. I've known I needed to do it for a while since I'm semi-allergic. But I've never been so excited to do it! And I found that it really won't be all that hard to do since the main thing I have to steer clear of is wheat, and our family often uses wheat alternatives anyway. So here I go on another adventure. At least it's not as drastic as the vow I made one year to not buy any clothes at all for the whole year just to see if I could do it (I did it successfully, btw). Oh I'm such a stubborn old mule ;)

-MarLeahJoy

This Evening

It all started with me telling my cousin how lame he was. Until he said they were going to ride their 4-Wheeler. I said I would be over in 20 minutes! Lol. So I actually went over there and we had a little fun with the GoPro. ;)

So the object lesson here is to tell people that they aren't doing anything exciting. They will get defensive and tell you all their fun plans. And then you can just invited yourself over. ;)

Haha, probably my favorite picture from the whole evening :) Gotta love a good sunset!

So we have a video to make out of all of this... Look for it soon :)

-MarLeahJoy

Fridays are for Melodies

Lately I've been thinking about how I used to play the Baritone. I was pretty good at it, but since I'm not going to ever probably play it again in my life, I really need to pick up another instrument. So, two choices... the guitar or the piano. Since we already have those in our house. Technically, I could also choose the cello since my dad has one of those too, but I think I'll pass. ;) *screech screech*

I have always been a person of order and schedules. That's the only way I can ever really feel productive. So to get on a schedule and get something done about this I've decided that Thursdays and Fridays are my days to learn music. The guitar, the piano, or both. We'll see. Monday is laundry, Tuesday is running and Saturday is photography, btw. ;) And everyday is for going to bed a little earlier... ekk, I'm so bad about that! D:

And this Sunday is for a newborn session! :) Excited!

-MarLeahJoy

A West Virginia Christmas

Yo! So I uploaded another video!

It is all about West Virginia, with some pretty cool GoPro clips ranging from family time to skiing and the flight home (yes, I have an epic skiing fail in there as welll......) ;)

It just might be a little humorous at times, serious at others, and have a very sappy ending. ;P

So go watch it.... :)

...on YouTube... by clicking the link below!

A West Virginia Christmas

-MarLeahJoy