for the most part, i am a  see-through person. i may be shy when you first meet me, but once you get to know me you’ll see that i wear my heart on my sleeve. what you see, is usually what you get.

because i am transparent, it leaves me vulnerable and open to judgment. sometimes my emotions give me away, even when i try my hardest to keep a stoic facade. you can easily tell if i’m embarrassed by something because my face will flush fire-engine red. if i’m nervous, i’ll unconsciously touch my nose or fiddle with my fingers. if i try to remedy that problem by putting my hands in my pocket, it feels even more unnatural to me and makes me feel even more awkward haha. if you want to see an awkward mess, put me in a public speaking situation! in school i always favored papers over presentations. i nearly passed out when i had to give my senior seminar presentation. i seriously contemplated pretending that i feinted. THAT’S how much i despise public speaking haha. i would have rather shaved off one of my eyebrows than to do public speaking haha. random fun fact: public speaking is one of the top phobias (learned from my psychology class back in the day). 

end rabbit trail, back to topic.

although i get nervous in front of huge crowds, with all eyes on me, i am completely myself when i am doing what i love. photography let’s me be myself. i am who i am. i am goofy and sweet. awkward, yet funny. genuine and open. although my openness can sometimes cause me heartache, i feel that my vulnerability helps me connect to my clients. because i have no problem opening up, i feel that i am easy to relate to. if my clients feel apprehensive about loosening up or doing particular poses because they’re afraid they’ll look silly, i hop on in and demonstrate what they should do. i will also throw in a goofy facial expression and maybe some weird sound effects and all is good! i feel my personality helps my clients to feel less reserved and more relaxed.

this trait is important to any business. you want your clients to feel like they can trust you. you need to build a rapport (i also learned this technique from my professors. i hope i’m making them proud :). having a relationship with your clients helps everyone to have a better experience. i always feel that when i leave a meeting or a photo session with my clients that we’re no longer just that, we have become friends. i crack corny jokes with them, share some of my crazy preschool stories, or talk about my cute ‘n’ cuddly animals i have at home. i’m real. i’m genuine. i’m ME! and i am so thankful for my clients because they love me and accept me for who i am. they’re wonderful! 🙂

so here’s my random tip for a happy business. be real. be genuine. be yourself. embrace what makes you, YOU! hope this can help at least one person out there! 🙂

have a beautiful evening, friends.

oh, and here are some outtakes from a recent photo shoot by my friend, lindsey, and my boyfriend, justin. i’m training them to be my second shooters and i am super excited. i love helping and i love talking about photography! double win! 🙂

yupp. this is the real me, a total and completely happy goofball. 😛

they told me to act cool while taking a picture of the plant. am i cool or what?! 😉

for some reason, my go-to goofy pose is sticking my tongue out. 

again with the tongue.

i think i’m related to gene simmons. 

oh yeah, there wouldn’t be a day that goes by that i don’t have a random dance spazz. here i am rocking out to “single ladies”, dance moves included. 

this is me on a daily basis. i hope you come back again haha. 🙂