A little Paisley adds flavor to your life:

Bella Aqua was truly born in July 2012. And I owe it entirely to Rabecka and her admission that she didn't have newborn photos scheduled of her brand new baby girl Paisley. She and I had a similar experiences with our pregnancies and mine was only a little more than a year before hers. I think we bonded during those chats :)

So after Paisley's birth, I took my camera over and snapped probably the most horrendous newborn photos of my entire career. No seriously! I had no clue about how to pose her, or even how to get great light on her! But Rabecka loved them. So, I started offering to take pictures of other people and their kids, and slowly I got better. Just a little...

I charged practically nothing for the sessions. And at the time I thought they were great! I still kept learning and trying new things. The ideas were there, but the technical know-how wasn't...... Nor was the level of my equipment. I refused to use photoshop, or even take my camera out of Auto. Although I did finally choose to use a software (very outdated and basic) to touch up my images a little.

By the time Paisley turned one, I was finally getting it. On the right track. My ideas were meshing with my technical ability a little more. I was getting my lighting right, no more pop up flash, blurry photos. My blur was on purpose! I discovered that I could control the blur and make people look in the photograph where I wanted them to.

And then..... And then my muse moved away. Not even just away but over 5000 miles and 4 time zones away. I continued to learn and grow as a photographer and Bella Aqua grew.... Soon she had 650 page followers, an instagram, 3 years worth of clients, photoshop, upgraded camera (twice), a room full of props, and I had a really good understanding of how to manipulate my camera to show you what I see. And then...... a set of orders. A set of orders to move to where Rabecka and Paisley moved to. Finally at long last, I was going to be where my friend and my Muse live. Three months later. I did it. I got to capture Paisley the way I wanted to capture her when I first saw her sweet little face and startling blue eyes.

Only now...... Now she brings her own prop.... Her baby brother.

And her best friend, Mika.

But Im having the time of my life getting to photograph her again. Even if its only for a short year. My head is swimming with all the things I want to do with her and Silas. So many adventures we are going to have. I just hope Im home often enough and long enough to get to do them all.... Or hell, Rabecka just might find us following her to another amazing place so I can keep capturing my muse, my little adventurer, the very first ever Bella Baby.