November comes

 November

The stripped and shapely

Maple grieves

The ghosts of her

Departed leaves.

The ground is hard,

As hard as stone.

The year is old,

The birds have flown.

And yet the world,

In its distress,

Displays a certain 

Loveiness--

The beauty of 

The bone.  Tall God

Must see our souls

This way, and nod.

Give thanks: we do,

Each in his place

Around the table

During grace.

 by John Updike

I find this poem to be so beautiful and surprisingly profound for a children's poem.

Don't You?

***

Indian Summer came and went. 

The gusty winds finally blew the leaves from the trees.  

The Spring training, that had begun so long ago had ended, and summer ball had taken its place,

and a fall, and Shohei Ohtani had won a World Series.

Congrats Dodgers

Congrats Shohei.

Thanks for a wonderful season!

Encourage one another,

Donna

HT:Harper Lee

MFEO




The best part of my day.

I had a long list of tasks to accomplish yesterday.
Longer than usual as I am leaving on a jet plane tomorrow.

When I picked Katie up for school she was tired.
She did not talk much on the car ride home.
A little while after she was home I yelled to her,
come upstairs, let's take some pictures,
it's getting dark.

And so she trailed along behind me up to my bedroom that has a large window.

I blew a fan right in her face.
(Annie Leibovitz lists a fan as one of her main pieces of equipment.)

And we just goofed off for five minutes.

If that.

And it was the best part of my day.

To her, it is just a blip.
It's a favor to me.
Like opening the door or carrying a package.

No big deal.

We two.

We were MFEO.

Made for each other.





Another day with a long list and an ultrasound.
I think they like me over at the hospital.
They keep asking me to come back.

Happy hump day!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Donna Boucher Photography






I never thought I would be a business owner.
Really, I never really thought I would work outside the home.

I am happy in my little house, taking pictures, cooking and teaching, blogging, loving and watching tv.

But 90% of the tasks I need to do as a business owner, I like.
I love the photoshoots and editing the pictures.

Getting lost in the editing is my second favorite part.

Look at this lovely girl. She is honestly the most beautiful girl inside.
She is brilliant and helpful (she saves her sister on a regular basis) and creative.
After I uploaded her families gallery to my website, I went back and played with images in black and white.
I just had a feeling.....




It's the whole money thing that stresses me out.

I need an agent and a business manager.
Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than selling myself.

I am at the point where I either need to amp up the business or close up shop.

Thoughts and plans swirl in my head constantly.
Do I press forward with branding and price adjustments and take the chance?

No one really knows the answer to that. It is a gamble and business risk.

See.

One of those things I am not comfortable with.

Risk.

I am all about happiness and beauty and love.

hehe

Business risk.

Ick.

But I do know I have value as a photographer.
I believe I am on this unexpected path for a reason.

Patrick has been my biggest support thru it all. He encourages me to spend in order to grow.
This does not freak him out. He is a business man.

I am a big scaredy cat. (apparently one who can not spell)

Artists and business....it's a old tale isn't it?

I guess that is why the term 'starving artist' was coined.

Fortunately I am far from starving. Far. Far. From starving.

a-hem...

I think what is nagging at me is I want to be excellent at what I do. I want to take pictures that are up to my standard.
Which is quite high. And I feel I am succeeding in this. But the business end, I don't really like not being an excellent business woman.
I think I am feeling that I had better go all in.
Or cash it in.

I am leaning toward all in.




But if I do give it my all....
and it doesn't go as I have planned.....


I will still be the happiest mom photographer in the world.


Encourage one another,
Donna