Baby Safa

Oh my goodness... I was lucky enough to have witnessed this little dude's miraculous birth, and here we are 2 weeks later, and look at that face! So so so so sweet.

If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com.

Baby Brock

I just want to squish this baby! Look at those cheeks! He is such a cutie! He was only 8 days old when we did this session, and his mommy told me that he was 10 pounds when he was born!

If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com.

Shumway Family

This family is AMAZING. Kenna and Josh are such loving and HILARIOUS parents to their sweet little Harley. And Harley... Couldn't you just die looking at those cute little dimples?!

If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com.

Bockholt Family

I've known this sweet family for years now- Since Joshua was known as "Baby Joshua" around these parts. Now they have darling baby Jack too! It has been so fun to watch this loving family grow! Blake and Allison are such great parents and I am honored to have been welcomed back to take this years family photos.

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If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com.

Inspired by Art

I have long been inspired by art. When I was a little girl, I would spend HOURS and HOURS drawing. I was convinced that if I practiced enough I could make my dream of animating films for Disney a reality.

I was also OBSESSED with photo books. Particularly photo books that had a photojournalistic approach to pictures. I LOVED seeing life captured. I loved imagining who those people in the portraits were. I was always so moved by photography.

When I was 8 I fell in love with Pierre-Auguste Renoir. I loved his paintings and wanted to be just like him. I remember going to the local library and checking out a GIANT book filled with his paintings and going home and trying to duplicate his work. My favorites were the paintings of people doing ordinary things, like having a picnic. Just moments that are seemingly uneventful captured and immortalized forever. A mere glimpse in to the lives of others. I found it profoundly beautiful. (Of course I didn't know why I loved them, but I really did).

I always have been affected by art, and have striven to create my own. I am still trying.

I want to share with you some images that I find inspiring... Images and paintings created by artists.

(I do not have permission or copyright for these images, all are listed by name as I want to give credit where credit is due).

The Swing by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Migrant Mother by Dorthea Lange

The Tetons and the Snake River by Ansel Adams

Dali Atomicus by Philippe Halsman

Picasso draws a Centaur by Gjon Mili

Now, don't you just want to go out and CREATE something?! So much beauty and creativity!

With Love,
Susan

Hazel and Justin Sneak Peek

Tonight I met the lovely Hazel and her sweet fiance Justin. They are so in love, and I am lucky enough to be the photographer they have hired for not only their engagements, but for their wedding as well! I am so excited!

Without further ado...

If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com.

Scarlet and Raphael Sneak Peek

I was so excited when Scarlet contacted me about hiring me to photograph her upcoming wedding to Raphael. Here is a sneak peek at their engagement session...

If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com.

A little inspiration...

I wanted to share a little bit of some things that have left me inspired as of late. The first is a video of two of my favorite musicians, MATT COSTA AND JACK JOHNSON. I have long admired both of their music and Each of them separately has lifted my soul with his music. Music moves me and inspires me in a way that nothing else can. I am deeply affected by music, and when I find a personal connection in the music, my heart rejoices and I am left feeling completely and utterly inspired.

I have had the privilege of seeing both of these men perform, but never together. Well, when I stumbled across this video yesterday, you have to understand how happy it made me. They each have a different style that is unique and beautiful in it's own rite. However, when the two styles are blended, you have complete loveliness that to me is just about as perfect as you can get. Their voices together are so incredible. It seriously gives me chills. (Yes I love them that much).

The second is also a video, but it isn't a MUSIC video. It isn't about listening as much as it is about watching. Beauty is all around us, and sometimes we're lucky enough to see it. But we have to look and WANT to see it. I have to add a disclaimer in that I am TERRIFIED of birds. I think this experience would be frightening, and yet, I STILL found beauty in this. So much beauty. This is one of the greatest gifts we are given: LIFE. Living, breathing, life. This video brought tears to my eyes as I watched something I will probably NEVER witness captured on film. This very short film left me inspired to capture beauty and those fleeting moments that, if we hadn't witnessed them ourselves, we wouldn't believe.

The last is a link to a movie called I'm Here, that is about 30 or so minutes long, but I find SO beautiful. I first saw this a few years ago, and it left me feeling psyched to capture what it made me feel. The story of giving yourself completely for love, because the opposite, (loneliness) is much worse than losing yourself. It is a quirky, odd film by Spike Jonze, and as I have already said it is so beautiful. I cry every time I watch it, and even now, as I just think about it I start to feel a little emotional. I love everything about this movie.

I'M HERE (you must have the latest version of flash to enter the site).

So, those are a few things I have found inspirational, and I wanted to share them with you. What inspires you? GO FIND OUT!

With Love,
Susan

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge {Happiness}

Here is my submission to the I Heart Faces contest this week! The theme is Happiness and I couldn't think of a better display of happiness than a brand new mother.

You can see more from this session here.

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com Photo Challenge Submission

Rosi and Roy

I have known Rosi's sister for a while now, and have had the privilege of photographing her family three times. So, when Rebecca emailed me and told me her little sister was getting married and wanted ME (I'm totally blushing) to photograph this MOMENTOUS occasion, I said, "YES! YES! WOOHOO!" (I might have played it cooler than that). So, Rosi and I emailed back and forth, and then spoke on the phone a few times, and then tonight we finally met in person, and I had the immense pleasure of seeing such a lovely person with the sweet boy she is marrying in May.

It was such a laid back, fun little engagement session, and I just couldn't wait to post some pictures. So, without further ado, here is a sneak peek at a couple of cutie-pies in love.

If you are interested in booking a session, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com. 

Baby Sarah Sneak Peek

Today I had the opportunity to return to the lovely Parsons family home and shoot a newborn session with Baby Sarah, (if you need help remembering the lovely way in which Baby Sarah came in to this world, you can check out her birth story here). She is only 1 week old today! Please enjoy a few pictures from this session.

If you are interested in booking a session with me, please contact me at susanmonsonphotography(at)gmail(dot)com. I would love to talk with you!

With Love,
Susan

Stop comparing yourself to something you are not.

This is my motto. I used to spend so much time agonizing about whether or not I was good enough. I still have my moments where I doubt myself. However, I have stopped looking at other photographers work as a means of comparison. I occasionally look at others' work, but do NOT look for inspiration in it. I look to enjoy their art. I also try not to criticize or disparage others' work.

I feel that the photography industry needs a more positive and loving environment that nurtures and fosters talent instead of viewing everyone else purely as competition. It is absolutely useless, wasted energy to constantly compare yourself to others. You will always find fault either with yourself or someone else, and will always feel some sort of negative cloud over your head. That is no way to live.

So, whether you are a photographer, or just a person trying to live his/her life without negativity, stop the unnecessary comparisons and just be happy with who you are, and how you as a person have grown.

I used to worry constantly about why is so and so getting more work than me? Why can so and so charge more than me? How can so and so possibly be that busy when her work isn't even that good? And then on the other side of it, I would read horrific things that other photographers would say about beginner photographers, and hear other photographers talk about how ridiculous another photographer was because that person called herself a professional. Do you know how that made me feel? I was constantly worried about what everyone thought of me. I was never satisfied with my work because I was always terrified that someone else hated it.  Those emotions and fears stifled my creativity, and caused me to question pursuing a career doing what I loved.

It is not a competition. Yes, if so and so gets more successful than you there is potential that she will take business away from you. However, the real clients you have are cultivated through relationship building and showing those clients that YOU are the one they trust with their special life moments. YOU are the one they need to tell their friends about. YOU are the one who determines whether that client remains loyal to you, or decides to go somewhere else. The ONLY person you need to worry about "stealing" clients away from you is YOU.

Also, learning to accept a "No" is hard. I get that. I struggle with it. For a long time I took it very personally. I would think, "My work isn't good." But that is BALONEY. I know I am good at what I do. I may not be the "Best" but I know that what I do has value. I know that I am capable of producing artwork that people love and cherish. I know I am capable because I have done it over and over again, and I believe in myself FINALLY. But just because a potential client says "No" doesn't mean that you aren't good at what you do. Unfortunately there are numerous factors that drive those kinds of decisions, whether it is finances, location, timing, you name it. Just know that you and that client were just not the right fit. There are more people out there. There are people out there who value what you do and aren't bargain shopping. They want quality and are willing to pay for it.

But do you know how I got to this point? Do you know what caused me to throw my hands up and say, "I am good. I like what I do. I like what I produce." ? I stopped looking at other photographers' work. For a while, I stopped all together. I felt a sense of freedom that I hadn't ever had in this industry. I just don't care anymore what other photographers say. That includes photographers that I am friends with. I don't say that to be rude. I love my friends. I just don't care about all the comparisons. I don't care about the name dropping, or the constant condescension. I don't have a MENTOR. No one held my hand while I started out. I had encouragement from people that I still to this day appreciate. But, I did not have a mentor or teacher. I may have had friends who started before me in the professional realm. But I have been a lover of photography (on my own) for a lot of years. I have been an amateur photographer, a hobbyist (whatever you want to call me) since I was 16 years old, and before that, I appreciated the art form immensely. I would scour National Geographics, and library shelves of photo books because I loved seeing LIFE being captured. Being immortalized. It has always held a special place in my heart. So I used to get angry and frustrated when people would talk down to me or about me and others like me who were trying to merge their passion with a means to help support their families.

I AM a mom with a camera. But I am more than that. I AM a photographer. I DO have a passion for this work. I AM good at what I do.

I realized that no matter what you do in life, no matter how good you are at what you do, there will ALWAYS be someone out there who tries to destroy it. So, it stops with me. I have given up comparing my work with others. I have given up judging and criticizing. I am tired of hearing the back stabbing and the hypocrisy from other photographers. So, I don't listen to it anymore.

I stopped going to photography blogs and sites for over a year now. I occasionally will browse now at others' work, but that is only when I am asked or if I just want to appreciate someone else's art. I do not go and look for inspiration. I do not copy other people's posing or props or look. If there HAPPENS to be similarities between my work and someone else's that is purely coincidence and not because I am trying to duplicate. Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case. I used to look for inspiration in other people's work rather than in the life around me, and in my clients. But, I feel that is how I have been able to grow. I let go of who I thought I should be and allowed myself to embrace who I was meant to be. And, thankfully, that doesn't always coincide with the majority.

The best part of all of this is that this mentality has crossed over in to my personal life and helped me to feel more confident in all aspects of my day to day. I am a happier person. It has taken a REALLY long time to get to this place, but I can finally say that I am pretty comfortable in my own skin. Sure I have my moments of concern about looking ridiculous, but the truth is, for the first time since I was a small child, I feel the freedom to be okay with being myself.

For me I just got tired. I mean, if I wasn't tearing myself down, I was tearing someone else down, or listening to someone else tear someone else down. No matter the situation, someone was being picked apart, and the negativity was so thick I couldn't see good anymore. That is not the meaning of this life. That is not a happy way to live. It is a useless, nasty way to be. And I will have none of it.

Go out, and be yourself. Be happy with who you are. To quote the amazing Dr. Seuss (who is the very definition of creativity):

With Love,
Susan

The Birth Story of Baby Sarah

I have known this family for a little while now, and I have loved getting to know them! I have followed their journey to baby #2 anxiously waiting for this little girl's arrival. I was so honored and blessed to be a part of such an amazing, life altering moment in this family's life.

It was my first experience witnessing a birth, and it was so unbelievable. I cannot put in to words how incredible it was. So, please enjoy these pictures...

A HUGE thank you to this wonderful family for allowing me to be a part of this day!

With Love,
Susan