Oh where has time gone? I have a LOT of catching up to do with my business, my blog and my personal life. I have been kind of MIA for a while and haven’t been the best at returning phone calls or emails very well. I am working on getting back to a normal schedule. I lost my dad at the end of March at the same exact time I found out we are expecting #2! What a mix of emotions for a person to handle. I was very close to my dad and it took some time to adjust and it will always be a work in progress. I have had very bad morning (all day) sickness the last 12 weeks exactly like I did with my son. If you know me I am very open and these are real world problems that a lot of people face. I have made it my mission to start focusing more on my family which means I will be taking less sessions per week. I also want to start on some new themed projects that will hopefully be super fun for me to do! So thank you all for understanding and being patient with me. Thank you to all my family, friends and clients who do know my story already that check up on me and send me nice little messages that brighten my day.

So… I am due at the end of Nov. and will be having my baby near or before the middle of Nov. I will be taking of 8 weeks after and Christmas pictures will have to be done in Sept/early Oct. Email coaphotoerika@gmail.com to schedule your session and place your retainer to save your date to make sure you get a spot!

Wedding season is in full swing! I will have a sneak peek shortly from my first wedding last Friday. It was SO fun! Today the bride called to thank me and said such nice things I got teary! I love my job…

So I love all types of photography. I couldn’t ever put myself in a box and only photograph or edit one thing or way. No way! I have recently been asked more and more to edit my images with vintage tones. I have been the last few sessions a lot more and I have to say I love the results. Everyone isn’t going to love every image I take or the way I edit it. Facebook is there with people to remind you of that. I want to post this picture edited in different ways to see what the popular opinion was. I still edit the images in color and then I add random vintage and color tones also.

So the picture below is on my little love bug son sleeping. He had been a terrible sleeper since the night he was born. I tried the advice of having background noise always going… ran the dishwasher and washer… I started working again shortly after having him and I was too not getting very much sleep or work done. I always say, “do you what you have to do.” That means me needing to work when I can. I often hold him during his nap and edit on my laptop with one hand. Yep. I have been putting him on his mini couch/bed but he wakes up after 20-25 minutes. I work at night when he is in bed until the early hours of morning because I get a lot more done. My babysitter comes usually twice a week for a few hours and man I don’t know how I did it now before! She is wonderful and my son adores her. She was in Hawaii for the past week and it is great to have her back!

Last but not least! My STUDIO. Slooooooowly but surely it’s making progress. Obviously not as fast as I want it done! I have a million ideas and I am going nuts waiting. My mom and sister were going through some old pictures from my great grandpa’s stuff. They found some awesome pictures and 2 old cameras. I can’t wait to use them in my studio! It means so much to be to have family heirlooms in there.

I make wishes a lot for more time to work. Shooting, editing, emailing, calling, designing, prop hunting, burning CD’s, packaging, mailing, a rare blog or fb post… What I really need is more time to just kick it with my son in the yard on a warm evening. What can you do? I LOVE my job and the biggest thing is managing business and family. My in-home babysitter graduates from high school in 2 weeks and she will be watching my little man more so I think you will see more posts here. Oh yes. And a new website.