Being a parent is tough work. I’m not one, but I’m remembering what I put my mother through in middle school…. AND I watched a friends baby the other day while she ran to the grocery store for 30 minutes. By the time she came back, I was ready for a massage and a NAP. Someday I’ll be a parent, but holding Kaia the other day made me realize how incredibly selfless you have to be when you become a parent. I’m not quite there yet… As a parent, you develop these intense feelings of love for your child. A sense of unconditional love, love that would make you deny your own senses to protect theirs. (I sort of have that for Ladybug, weird I know). It’s a powerful thing, and I don’t think you ever really grow out of that as a parent. Your children grow up, begin their own lives, start their own families, but you’re still the rock. The one who supports in those tough moments, the same way your parents did for you.

Back in January, I shared with all of you that one of my major goals for this year was to give back to you!  I challenged readers to nominate someone here on the blog, who you thought deserved to be recognized for their giving spirit! I received so many great nominations and absolutely couldn’t decide who should win the free session. So Billy and I kinda cheated. We chose three…. here is the nomination for one of the winners we chose!

“Dearest Laura,
I’d like to nominate my mom. She is nothing short of amazing, and is completely selfless. Aside from being an amazing and strong figure in mine and my sister’s lives, she is a fun, inspiring, and adventurous spirit. She doesn’t take no for an answer and doesn’t back down from a challenge. (All qualities I hope I’ve picked up from her!) Despite several difficult years, she made sure both my sister and I went to college, and were taken care of. This past year was a difficult one for me. Anything and everything that could have gone wrong or fallen apart did. At points I wasn’t sure how to keep moving forward, but no matter what came up, she was always there to support and love me. I hope everyone out there is as lucky as I am to have such a wonderful mom.

This year is her 50th birthday, and I can’t think of anything better than some family photos. I hope she wins!

xoxo,

Justine”

As  a photographer, I’m all about celebrating milestones, and as a daughter I can really relate to that feeling of support and wanting to say thank you.

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Sometimes life doesn’t fit a mold. So many of us have a plan and vision of what our life will look like, expectations of how our lives will be lived out. Some call them dreams, some call them goals, visions, expectations, or paths. We all have them, our families have them, our friends even have them for us, expectations. What happens when love comes into the picture? Are you brave enough to abandon your expectations? Your safe vision of what comes next? Or do you blaze a trail, a life UNordinary?

It’s possible that for Jenna and Tim, their existence together was fated from the beginning of time. Two people, caught in a holding pattern. Their love story is something out of a romance novel, but I’ll save that for their engagement session post ;-)

What matters most in this love story is that love came first, COMES first. Their little one, who should be here any day now, will be the most loved baby this world has yet to encounter. With two parents like hers, it is the only outcome. PS, they’re keeping the name of the baby a secret, which I think is pretty cute. Life has so few surprises in it.

Congratulations Jenna and Tim, I can’t wait for the adventures in your future!

Sorry Tim, couldn’t help it!

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I had 3 main goals for WPPI this year, and I really pushed to achieve them. Between naps.

1. GIVE something.

2. BUY something.

3. LEARN something.

Parts one and two were accomplished in the first two days, PHotoshoot, check!, new boxes (for a top secret project) at the trade show, check! Parts 3 and 4 were the ones I needed to focus on. Because I shifted my priorities this year from trying to do EVERYTHING to trying to do 4 things, I actually had a really wonderful week. I had lots of coffee dates with new friends, looooooooong dinners, shot a maternity session for two very good friends, and even had a mentor session with a photographer I love.

I met with Emilie Sommer of Emilie Inc. on Wednesday. She is a Maine based photographer, who’s work I’ve been following for years. I tried to win this mentor session on Ebay through the Thirst Relief auction. I stink at Ebay. I really do. I must not click enough, my strategy is always off. This time, I lost by 2 dollars in the last minute. I was devastated so I tweeted about it, not expecting a response at all. She tweeted back and asked me if I wanted to meet up for coffee anyway! Simply THE BEST. We talked about business, goals, life, and success. One thing I learned? I have a ton of work to do. We talked mostly about my web presence.

Emilie took a look at my website and confirmed what I secretly knew to be true but wasn’t ready to deal with. IT was HORRIBLE. Hard to navigate, limiting and not at all a representation of my brand. We talked strategy and exactly what direction to go! I can’t thank her enough for meeting with me. I know WPPI is a very busy time for most and I just think the world of her. I walked away from our meeting like I was floating on a cloud. I have a great new friend and I learned so much!

So here is the BIG news! BIGGEST news of the year! It’s a brand spanking NEW website!!!! I’m so excited about the launch, and because it is new there are still a few bugs to be worked out, but please take a look and let me know what you think. I used a revolutionary software called SHOWIT to make this site. It’s more than words. It’s my new best friend. I’m so in love with it.

Thank you for taking a look, I can’t wait to hear what you think!

www.lauramarchbanksweddings.com

It’s completely mind-boggling to me that here it is almost February and I haven’t sat down yet to blog. It’s funny how that happens, I took time off during the holidays to enjoy friends and family time. Getting back into the swing of my routine was harder than I thought. I think I also majorly underestimated just how busy I would be over the holidays… they just ZOOMED by!

So here it is, already almost an entire month into the new decade, and I have yet to sit down and hash out my resolutions and goals for my life, love, and business. I try to do this every year. Being self employed is hard, so it’s good to have something to hold over yourself, to be accountable for.

I’ve been completely innundated with work for my new position with Andersen Ross. Just before my holiday hiatus, I was honored with the position and title of Creative Director for a new start up company (not yet released…. very hush hush). What I can tell you is that it is the latest and greatest idea to hit the stock photography market! As much as I like to always think of myself as an integral part of everything, I’m touched that they agree! I’m also challenged by the prospect of wearing yet another hat. [Random Tangent: In my old 9-5, wearing multiple hats infuriated me. My mentality was, let me do the job you hired me for. I remember sitting down at my desk one very busy day and taking the time to write all the hats I was being forced to wear. When janitor, dishwasher, receptionist, and courier topped the list I almost cried.... now here I am, working for myself I am all of those things AND MORE! ah geez]

Now when I think about wearing all these hats: photographer, producer, office manager, creative director, stylist, casting director, recruiter, marketing specialist, blogger, fiance, courier, janitor, chef, gardener…. I’m inspired, and challenged. All of them deserve equal attention, all of them are amazing positions I am so incredibly thankful to have. I think of a recent mentor I’ve aquired. Her name is Lara Casey, and if you have never heard of her you simply MUST follow her blog. She’s amazing. All of the hats she wears, the things she accomplishes in her daily life, the people she reaches and touches. She inspires me every day not to give up, push forward, be great. She’s holding workshops all over the nation right now. I’m utterly devestated I missed her Seattle stop, but if she comes to an area near you, GO and be ready to make things happen in your life… then please tell me everything that happened. And if you could do the voices of everyone that would be great. Thanks.

While my goals for my business in this new decade do deserve a post of their own, I do want to mention one that I know 100% to be true. I plan to use my business to give back to those in need. Love deserves recognition. So every month I am plan to give BACK, to you, to the world. SO now comes the formal announcement (and thank you for reading this far) This month I’m giving away a TOTALLY FREE a lifestyle portrait session. Simply leave a comment below with your nomination of someone who loves deeply and why they deserve this gift. It can be you, your grandmother, a set of new parents, etc.

Lifestyle portrait sessions are a value of $500.00!!!! and could be used for:

Engagement, family, newborn, boudior, bridal, you name it we’ll make it up.

NOW, go forth and nominate someone you know in need. We’ll be chosing the BEST and most creative entry…. Here we go!

The winner will be chosen ONE week from today, the deadline is Friday January 29th, at 12:01pm.

(***One catch this session must be scheduled in 2010 and be in the Seattle/Portland/San Francisco area)