If you had asked me 10 years ago if I believed in magic, I would have laughed. Magic? Like unicorns or pulling coins from someone’s ear? No no, I’m much too educated and logical for all that nonsense. If you had asked me 10 years ago if I saw myself running a successful photography business and that part of its success is through magic…absolutely not. Yet, here I am.
Before I dive too deep, let’s define magic. I’m using the spelling “magic” here since it’s what is commonly understood. Though, many times magick, yes with a K, means something older and ancient. Magick is what I mean, but for flow in this blog, magic is what I’ll use. Magic is defined as energy, connections, and dimensions both accessible and beyond our reach. Remember, most science was seen as magic before someone gave it a theory.
While driving 5mph on a highway in Mississippi durning a torrential summer downpour my husband and I were discussing next steps. He was in military training. I had left my job so we could follow his career. I said to him as much to the rain, “I want a photography business that grows organically. One that focuses on the people, the story.” The rain took my words, spread them to the land, and the land answered back.
After Mississippi we were swept to the tumbleweed high desert of Idaho. That was where it all really started. I felt the land. It was wild, untamed, and showed off. Canyons, rivers, mountains, Idaho gave a backdrop to my photos that made me speechless. The rain from Mississippi had found it’s way to the Snake River in Idaho. I had found my voice. It wasn’t just through the camera lens or education, but the land that called to me. Things seen and unseen pulsed with energy.
I realized that place, the physical location, did something to photos. I get that you may be rolling your eyes, but hear me out. Scientists admit there is so much we don’t know about the world (just look at how little of the ocean we’ve explored and the new species being discovered). And you’ve felt it too.
When you walk into a quiet church with light streaming through the stained glass windows. The moment you stop walking in the woods and a breeze carrying birdsong brushes your cheek. Your home that may frustrate you so much at times but when you pause, the warm memories of your son’s first steps echo across the floor. A summer rain catching you in the garden. Place holds magic. And when we are working together to tell your story, I am connecting with that energy.
Will you feel magic during our session? Yes. You may have another word to describe the energy, but you’ll feel it. We aren’t rushing through 20 minutes. Your session is completely tailored to what your family and loved ones want to do. By the time we’ve met, I will have bought you coffee, learned some of your story and be your top supporter in telling it.
I hope at the end of this you’ll pause. Wiggle your toes, stretch those shoulders, unlock the jaw, and look around. Even in the chaos there is magic. Your story is magic.
