Everyone predicted that within a year I would be doing newborn and child portraits but actually I felt more drawn to my wedding work than ever with a rejuvenated love of capturing those first moments of starting a family. Let's face it, whether you want to have children or not, when you get married you are becoming family for better or worse. Your family meets their family and you're all suddenly one small or giant cuddling or bickering or joking family. And that's what I want to photograph - the start of it all. A wedding itself is filled with so many attractive details to photograph like flowers, formal-ware, smiles and laughter, but ultimately I live for the concept of it being that for many, it is a once in a lifetime event where so many people from your lives gather to celebrate love and the future (whatever it may hold). Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it - I seriously love my job.
This year since I knew I wanted to be a part of my son's daily routine as much as possible, I decided to take on a lot less work than I normally had and it was really an exciting thing, to be able to connect so intimately to each and every couple I worked with. I remember each wedding I shot so vividly and I am so grateful for it -- there were funny, tear-filled, and such incredibly human moments that will stay with me forever and to be able to capture them has felt like a gift I've been given over and over again.
There was beautiful handmade decor and awesome never before seen by me locations. I especially loved how every wedding I shot was just so vastly different. From the awesome and love-filled laid back energy of a crazy rainstorm wedding to the wedding atop a giant mountain, this year was filled with unique experiences for me.
Amidst the weddings, the doctor visits every month for little D, the meetings, the editing and so so much laundry, my husband and I decided to launch an even bigger e-commerce website for our Etsy vintage and handmade collection as well and plugged away at adding to it with tons of photographing and late nights of measuring and importing. We launched the site, starting it from a basic template to full fruition with double our inventory within one month and that felt like quite the achievement! Old New House allows me to select cool vintage and antique pieces that I'd want in my own home and then take pretty pictures of them. Not to mention we make things too and keeping me in touch with being in artist mode is so relevant to my wedding photography as well. I am obsessed with just about every piece we have in our shop and am so proud of what we have created together -- oldnewhouse.com.
We are still working diligently around the clock to add to, shape up, and create new originals for Old New House and are even doing our version of a pop-up shop at the Manhattan Vintage Show on January 17th and 18th -- we will be hanging out in booth #44, hoping to make some new connections and also to showcase our newest route of the ONH brand -- vintage clothing. Because after all, a house should be filled with vintage from the floor to the closets!
While I anticipated the opposite, having a baby has truly pushed me to work harder than ever. I want to provide as much wonderful goodness for him in this life as possible and being able to keep him warm and cozy -- it is my livelihood. In this new year, I have still taken on only a small number of weddings to keep my focus on Little D and I can honestly say I am so excited for each and every one of them!
And such a big thank you to my team: Natalie, Rachael + Yasu for making it such a great year also!
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