I am opening a store!!!!

My poor baby has had me home with her the last three days. Three days of fever. I thought it broke for good after her nap yesterday, she woke up fever free this morning so we headed to town to go to school and work. When I was getting her out of the truck, I noticed she felt warm so I asked them to do a temperature check for me and sure enough the fever was back. Went to the doctor and it is something viral. UGH. I have had to reschedule all my sessions over the last few days (I am also sick.) I have had a lot of free time on my hands the last few days and I really do not know what to do with it. While sitting around my basically spotless house, I decided that I was going to make on of my dreams come true today.

I will now be selling some of my photos! I have a variety of options to choose from right now. There are several beach, mermaid, Texan style, fire, red bird and more! I will continue to add to the collection but for now there is quite a bit to choose from. You can do any size print, canvas, have the photo framed or have it done on metal!

I had always wanted to open my own little boutique to sell my photos out of. It of course would double as a studio and I'd have cute clothes too. While I am not opening physical "doors" today, I am opening an online store. For the time being, I will sell off this site but I plan on working to get some items on another site as well.

I would love for you to check out the new "store" and let me know what you think, even if you do not plan on buying. I feel like these pictures show how I see the world.


















Here is the site: https://camoandlacephotography.pixieset.com/stockphotos/

Please feel free to email me your feedback: camo.lace4@gmail.com

 Thanks for reading :)

I feel..... __________

I haven't been much in the writing mode these last few weeks. To be honest, there has been too much on my mind. Besides staying busy with photography outside of my full time job, my husband just changed jobs. He went from a state job of over 11 years which felt safe, to a whole new company. A whole new company and a whole new type of job. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely excited for him and I do think it is a great move for him. Especially in the long run career wise. It is just scary to step over the ledge of security. What if things change? What if he hates it? What if...

We also have been discussing other changes. Like having a second child. It is something we both want to do, but is it really the right time? We were all for getting rid of the birth control in July and now here comes July sneaking around the corner, I am freaking out a little. A lot. A new job, a new baby and everything else? I think baby #2 may have to wait a few more months until life settles a little. Honestly, my kid eats cookies for breakfast. Like, every day. I may not be responsible enough to have a second child right now. 

We were entertaining the idea of me going from full time to part time in the office so I could have more time at home and more time to do photography. I do love that idea. I was happiest when I worked part time when Dakota was 2 but also my office job is going so great right now. It would be hard to leave since I am committed there as well. I feel like I am needed there and I am needed at home. 

The trouble as always is I want to do everything. I want to have enough time in the day to show my family how much I love them and spend time with them. I want to be able to keep my house clean (OCD super sucks sometimes because this is HIGHLY important to me.) I want to have a successful career in Human Resources, I think I am pretty good at it and I am still learning. I want to be extremely successful as a photographer because I love that too. There just isn't enough time in the day. If only I could be Hermione on Harry Potter and have that Time Turner. 

For now, I am just a tired mess trying to do everything at once. Somehow, I will continue to make it all work until God shows me the path I should be on. Can't seem to pick the best option for myself right now so I will keep working hard until he shows me the way!

Sharing a few pictures of my sweet girl and the deer. I absolutely loved everything about the deer session. Her next session will be a mermaid on the beach! If everything works out, I will post those next week! As always, thanks for reading! 

A Wedding, a Baby and a Little Deer too

It has been an awesome, busy week. On Saturday, I photographed my first wedding since I was six weeks pregnant with Dakota. That is about 5 years ago if I know how to do my math correctly! I was extremely nervous beforehand. I am a perfectionist and weddings especially there are just so many shots that you have to be responsible for.

For the most part, everything went really well. I got a lot of great shots, I enjoyed the guests and the wedding was beautiful. There were a few things that have definitely changed over the last 5 years. One being, there were cell phones out everywhere. And it wasn't that people were staying in place taking their pictures and videos, but I saw several moving around to get the best shot. Even some of the groomsmen had their phones out taking pictures. The dynamic where you sit and watch what is happening has really changed. The other thing that changed is before, I never worried about someone stepping in front of my camera or moving me out of the way so they could get a picture. It very much felt like I was navigating my way through a herd of cell phones. Now, I am not saying I do not get it. Technology has come a long way and it is so easy to snap pictures and post them right away. I do highly recommend if you are planning your own wedding to do an "unplugged" wedding and it is something I now know to recommend to my future clients.

Sunday, I did one of my absolute favorite sessions to date. I revisited Baby G and paired him with a baby deer. When his mom originally approached me for his newborns, I had the idea to do his session with a baby deer because of their interests. Unfortunately, at the time, I was unable to find one. However, a week later, I was able to locate this gorgeous girl. Her mother was killed by a car and she was found sitting in the middle of the road by her mom.

While this session would not have been possible without this adorable fawn, it is important that you know you should not pick up a fawn or other wild baby animal. Majority of the time, the mother deer will leave the fawn bedded down while she forages for food. The general rule is, if the fawn is not crying or injured, do not disturb it. The following is a link to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with additional information on orphaned wildlife:  https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/rehab/orphan/

I also took the time to get a few outdoor shots of Baby G. It was his first time feeling the breeze and he absolutely loved it. I loved being part of both of these sessions.

My weekend is going to be booked, one session for the family who won a free session through my Facebook giveaway and then a few other working projects, hopefully catching up on edits and getting my studio reorganized with all the props and backdrops I have purchased. Then so far my upcoming week is pretty quiet. I do have several sessions pending, among a few is one boudoir session that I am excited for, a maternity session and an engagement session. I will post previews and more edits as I get them done. Please check out my facebook page to stay up to date on everything I have going on. https://m.facebook.com/camolacebaby/ As always, thanks for reading! :)

My Two Week Catch Up

The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. There have been a million things going on and a million things on my mind. I completely forgot to post a blog last week so this one will serve as my two week catch up and God willing I will be back on track by next week.

In the last two weeks, I have had two senior sessions, a double maternity session, a Firefighter kids session and my first newborn session since Dakota was born! Also, my niece graduated high school. I am working on planning a maternity session, two newborn sessions for September, a large family session and several costume sessions. My brain is constantly going so if ever down time comes up, I feel completely lost or I pass out in exhaustion lol.

I cleaned out our extra bedroom to set up a temporary studio/office for me until I am ready to get my own building. I have purchased several backdrops, props, and my husband is building me a set because I am not coordinated or crafty. I purchased my website for a year so I am really hoping this all works out lol. I discovered that you really can't iron backdrops and when your husband knows more about ironing than you, it makes you question how wife material you are. It's too late for him anyway lol.

I have been running multiple promotions and a giveaway so I am excited to see those results. Those sessions are being planned as well. The July one is already planned and I am excited for that! I will be combining two of my favorite things. No, I am not giving away wine although I may consider it for August :)

I have found it is hard to promote a small photography business. I pay for advertising through Facebook which doesn't yield much results. I tried google advertising but for what I spent and getting zero from it, it definitely wasn't worth it. Facebook marketplace can be a hot spot but majority of the time you can't post because Facebook will reject the ad. I have appealed several times but haven't had much luck with getting anything changed. So I am constantly sharing to my personal page and emailing out promotions. I am sure it is annoying for those recipients even though it has only been a few in the last couple months so I am going to take a rest on that. I have stayed fairly busy though. In an ideal world, I'd love to have 4 sessions a week. So far, I have been pretty consistent at 2 sessions a week so I am sure I will have 4 sessions in no time.

That is the gist of my last two weeks and some of what has been on my mind. So now for more of my favorite pictures from the last two weeks :)