Lauren Clark Photography » Blog

Has anyone else noticed that I have a ton of blog posts lately? My favorite movie is Catch and Release and I love the chubby guy who always wears Joseph’s coat of many colors, when he came into the herbal tea company he said “I am back, I am back in a BIG, BIG way”. That is how I feel with all of these blog posts, I’m back in a BIG way! Remember how I used to post suff everyday? I think I’m headed back in that direction. I still have about 50 emails and facebook messages to respond to, a big blog post of For The Love, and by Monday I will have 3 new sessions to show!

For now, here is a picture of a waterfall in Cade’s Cove, Tennessee!

We just returned from the most fabulous preview trip ever!  Each year before Love Affair Workshop the four of us travel to our selected location to preview the site, do some planning and a whole lot of chatting. Althought the four of us have not been together in one spot since last July we picked up right where we left off.  Thats the thing about amazing friendships, months apart seems like no time has passed at all and being together again is refreshing.

I think you’ll agree once you find out where we will be for our September 2010 workshop that this is the RIGHT spot for us.  All of our planning was seemless, and everything fell right into place.  It was just meant to be!

You know we are going to make you play the guessing game again to figure out exactly where we will be so here comes clue #1. We have also released the dates so mark your calenders for September 14th-16th.  Of course you’ll want to plan to arrive a day early for our welcome social and fly out on Friday, so just go ahead and block the 13th through the 17th to be sure you don’t miss a thing!

Clue # 1- FRIENDSHIP

So yesterday on a whim I sold three of my prime lenses on facebook. Right after I listed and sold my 45mm TS-E lens I went onto my favorite camera store, B&H, and bought the 70-200mm 2.8 IS with overnight shipping for my new venture into kids photography. Let me just say that this split second decision was a great one! Almost this entire session was shot with it and I LOVE IT! I came away from this session renewed and excited about photographing kids! Here are my favorites…

Long story short, Melissa drove 9 HOURS to model for the For The Love workshop in Tennessee last week and wasn’t able to come up the mountain to us because of the ice and snow on the mountain. I was able to come down right as she was leaving and shoot her for an hour on the Tennessee countryside! It was delightful!

Marcie and Cody Crossland were married this last weekend at my favorite venue in Midland- Kessler’s! It was decked out with tons of fun decorations and had the coolest area for kids that I’ve ever seen at a wedding. Here are the faves…

I am about to have a TON of posts! I would be much faster if my server wasn’t about to crash. For the last month or two we haven’t been able to get our server up to speed and it has been slowly sucking the life out of our computers! All three of us have only been able to work off of Josh’s Mac and it hasn’t been easy coordinating that, and luckily, my awesome computer guy is coming over Saturday to work on it all for us. Josh spent the day yesterday backing up everything onto another hard drive just in case it went kaput, and this left me with no access to anything recent to work on. I found some old DVDs from the Honduras photos we took and started adding them to a gallery in a website that I bought a long time ago for seniors. I am going to turn it into my kid’s photography website, so go and check out the gallery that I made from Honduras yesterday!

Here is the link.

Lots of work coming up!!

90 minutes with me at WPPI in Las Vegas next month talking to you about anything in photography is up for bid to raise money for Thirst Relief. Also included is a KELLY MOORE BAG in the color of your choice and a FREE COPY OF UNO DVD!!

Want to bid? Click here: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=thirstreliefinternational

If you win this bid and aren’t going to make it to Vegas then you can definitely call, come by or skype for it! We are in 7th place now! Keep bidding!

I have been out of the office for about 9 days now, and guess what? I’m leaving again! Love Affair Workshop (Millie, Kelly, Davina and I) is at it again! We are scouting our newest location until Wednesday and then I PROMISE I will answer all 300 emails and respond to the 100 emails about the FREE kids sessions! I will be booking a few per week until March so that I can learn new lessons in how to make kids have a great time in front of the camera. See you Wednesday!

This is a picture from the Love Affair blog. Let me just say that this next workshop is going to surpass them ALL!!! Get ready to sign up in a few weeks and hear where the new location will be!

So in my attempt to start building my kids portfolio I called up my sis-in-law, Marla, and asked if she could bring Jonah to me for a few fun ideas that I had. Well since I’m so used to working with hardy adults and seniors who will brave any weather for a good shot, I learned my first lesson in my children’s photography journey.

Lesson #1- Reschedule if the windchill is in the 20’s.

Lesson learned. We rescheduled the session after these funny photos…

Last year I was able to participate in the Thirst Relief Auction to raise money to send clean water wells and clean water education to people around the world. I just happened to sell for above FULL price for a Brainwash and I do think that I was the only one to do that (uh oh! pride!:). Every year tons of photographers from around the world donate these mentor sessions and it is just an amazing thing to see how many resources are donated. It’s pretty cool.

So this year since I will be in Las Vegas to do the 90 minute mentor session with the highest bidder I want YOU to bid on me! Here is the link to read more about my auction and what all is included!

Josh just got home yesterday from his two week trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma to work on clearing our land and I am just ecstatic! I love my manly man! He knows how to use a chainsaw, build houses, do everything that I’m too dumb to figure out, and he loves me enough to live up there for 2 weeks every month and clear land for me. Thanks Josh. Here is the new pictures of the progress! Remember what it looked like before?

Everyone has gone to bed here in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and I have had a life change. No, really, a real life change… my business is going to directly reflect what has happened in my life tonight.

We were in our last time of talking about what the Lord had taught us this week and Maria declared that she is not going to become a photographer and another person was confirmed that he should become a pastor instead of the successful photographer that he was. That was shocking to me, that they would come to a photography retreat to hear us speak and then decide not to be photographers. I felt a stirring. I knew that the Lord was going to do something in my life this week but I didn’t realize how deep He would dig to uproot my fallow garden. He has started another phase of healing from my parent’s divorce, my pride in my marriage and completely revamping my business for a new season of passion for people and my job.

Did I mention that it’s completely revamping my business? Yes, dear readers, as Maria (love this girl) decided that everyone should pray over Erik, Ginny and I the Lord stirred in my heart and I felt it beat more than it ever has. He told me that I didn’t have to keep accepting weddings, that I could be finished as a wedding photographer. His peace covered me and a rush of  TRUST in Him for this decision immediately made it’s home in me. I knew right then that I had the answer I had been looking for. You see, I have had a year full of filling my life with the world, trying new things to fill my voids and getting rid of the interests just as fast as I find them, never fully satisfied and always wanting more. I have tried travel, success, movies, cooking, horse riding, painting, harmonica playing, working out, playing the wii, reading books, gardening, home decoration, chuck wagon cooking, and so many other hobbies and you know what? Revelation hit tonight and I knew that I have been searching because my life was feeling so empty. I was not honoring my husband as I should, digging a pit of worldly things and spending money to find happiness like no other desperate 24 year old that I’ve ever seen. All of that was met with a flood of peace tonight and immediately removed my fears.

So, I will no longer be accepting anymore weddings. I will passionately finish out the 32 I have booked with a new excitement that the light is finally at the end of the tunnel, and get this… I will become a children/family/senior photographer. Who would have ever thought that I would want to do that?!  God works in funny ways. Well, I have a new hope and passion for it, and  I can spend all of my Saturdays resting like the Lord intended, with my husband and family, and God will provide where I will fall short.  My life will have balance and purpose again. My burn out will recede and I will become all that God wants me to be.

So goodnight, for tomorrow I will wake up with new passion and purpose in life.

For The Love Workshop will rock your socks off if you are a Christian and a photographer. Do not doubt it. I have 24 people here who will tell you the same thing. Breakthroughs happen when people of like minds join together for a week seeking the heart of God.

Tonight we started off with dinner and worship here at For The Love, a christian retreat/photography workshop in Tennessee. As Ginny and her brother were singing I just closed my eyes: it was half out of pride and half because I didn’t know the words. I feel like the Lord gave me a vision when I had closed my eyes.

I saw a beautiful, colorful, high tower in a field and immediately knew what it represented.

My pride, in all of its loneliness and self-guarding attributes just keeping my spirit captive in the walls of its city.

Since my Dad blindsided me 6 years ago when he left my mom, I had decided never to trust anyone too much again, and I think this included not trusting the Lord fully ever again. It was Him, after all, who allowed this to happen to me and my perfect family. My christian “walk” since then has been guarded, but with only a tiny bit of surrender. I do not trust that the Lord will take care of everything, so I make sure that I’ve got it under my own control. I plan out all of the events in my life, how I can make them work and the backup plans for everything… there is minimal trust, but saying that you have it is a nice thought, you know. I then took on the role of the umbrella and provider for anyone in my family. I felt like someone had to fill the shoes that were left empty, and I knew that in my own strength I could accomplish it if I worked hard enough, got famous enough or was headstrong enough.

Tonight when I was seeing this tower in my head, it was really quite beautiful with different levels and colors sparkling and swirling. It was a masterpiece. I have built a tower of pride around myself, with very thick walls, to protect me from people who would hurt me and from the Lord’s scary, but never failing hand.

I have always known that I have tremendous pride, not necessarily in my photography, although there is some there, but mainly in knowledge, self- sufficiency and self preparation. Are you noticing all of the “Selfs”? Although I have known and will readily profess my pride to anyone who asks, I still haven’t wished them to pray for the Lord to break the walls of this fortress down. I am too afraid of what He will do. He could wreck my business and then I would be left with nothing, he could take someone away from me that is so precious, he could send me to a foreign country as a missionary and I would have to trust in Him every day to bring me the necessities of life. I have never asked Him to break down my walls, because I knew that He would, and that I would have to begin to TRUST Him again. He would break them down and come in and rescue me from my pitiful “self” sufficient self.

That is more scary than anything else I have ever been through. Tonight for the first time I asked the Lord to break down these city walls. My beautiful, safe, sparkly city and make me new.

My pride doesn’t want me to agree, but I know that if I trust in the Lord again, the spirit of fear and pride that haunts me daily and guards this city will evaporate and all that will be left is me as a weak, weak being.

His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Send for Your light and Your truth, Lord, and break the bonds of pride in my life. Stir the waters of Bethesda and let me heal.

My bag tag fell off once the man delivered my bag, AA did come through with that service of bringing my bag an hour away to The Preserve after they lost it last night. I did pay $70 for it, so I’m glad it had a bit of personal service!

Self portrait.

Ginny’s mom and aunts have been cooking GREAT food all day long.

This is our rockin’ Super Bowl Party.

For The Love Workshop attendees will be picked up from the airport tomorrow!! More posts to come real soon. I miss my husband. I haven’t seen him in a week. He is up in Oklahoma clearing our farm land and I miss him. Hi Josh.

Can’t wait to see ya’ll tomorrow if you are coming to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee!!!!