Well I see that it's been quite a long while since I posted to this blog! I must admit that it hasn't been top priority lately.BUT, I'm actually at HOME during the Christmas holiday (that NEVER happens!) so I'm trying to update everything.

So, you may wonder what I've been up to. There are many answers to this question. I have spent much time working as
the ministry assistant for the Bartholomew Baptist Association. It is a part-time job that I LOVE! I have also been the Interim Minister of Music at church since August. This has also taken a lot of my time, especially as we approached the Christmas season. Preparing a Hanging of the Green play with music and an adult musical was quite time-consuming but a lot of fun. The Lord just continues to challenge my creativity. He says, "Here's something that needs to be created. YOU create it!"  He never fails to give me the knowledge and skills needed for a project and sometimes it just amazes me. Now, on top of those two jobs, I taught a Secondary Vocal Methods class for UAM last semester. That was a new and fun experience! I was honored to be asked to teach the class and am hopeful that I will get to do it again in the future. That's three jobs. Now let's add in music lessons two afternoons per week and doing my photography every chance I get. That has been my life for the last several months!

So what's in store for the future? Even though I haven't had a lot of paying photography jobs lately, I did do a wedding and a banquet, as well as many church-related photo shoots, and I have had several photos published in the Arkansas Baptist News;  two of them were on the cover. I also won a state-wide photo contest! So, I have been encouraged to continue my photography business in the hopes that it will survive, even in this poor economy. My list of jobs is shrinking this semester so, hopefully, I will have more time to promote my business and find new avenues to sell my work.

SO, now you are all caught up!

May you have a New Year full of blessings from our Heavenly Father and may you give Him your whole life -
heart, mind, body and soul! (and just as important - your TIME.)

Summer Travels -I

This summer I had the opportunity to travel to Hungary and Austria!
Here are just a few photos from our day in Budapest.

                                                               BUDAPEST is a truly AMAZING city!

Long time-No See!

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! Sorry. I guess I've been busy. I am currently working on photos from my mission trip to Hungary. I takes a while to go through over a thousand photos. Once those are done and I get some of them posted, I have even more photos from Austria! I haven't even uploaded them to the computer yet. Anyway, I'm working on it.

Stock Photography

My latest adventure in photography involves submitting photos to a stock photography site. This has been another learning experience.  I recently read an article written by a man that makes quite a bit of money selling photos this way. He said that he often submits 20 or 30 photos and only a few of these are accepted. He also said in the article that, in time, you learn what the company is looking for and begin to get more and more of your work accepted.  So, I finally took the plunge, not realizing how much time it would take! Each photo has to have at least 10 descriptive key words. Sometimes that is a real challenge! It's also a challenge to find a photo that they don't already have. I submitted four photos the first time. They were all rejected and I was a bit dismayed, but I tried again. This time, I submitted 10 photos! ONE, count 'em, ONE was accepted! Hey! That means there's hope!! I have since spent some time looking at the photos they have available already. Maybe that will help me in selecting photos for future submission. No matter what....I LOVE taking photos!

Clouds at Sunset Collection

This is a collection that I have started. I'm calling it "Clouds at Sunset".
I just love to see and try to capture the beautiful ways God paints the sky
with light!

Winter Beauty

Here are a few photos from our February Snow.
I think the first one is my favorite...or maybe the barn...
I'm not sure. What do you think?

Winter Blahs

Wow! I haven't posted in quite a while. I am finding that winter is just too BLAH.I have found very little that I want to photograph. I will have a bit of free time this weekend, so maybe we can get a few recent photos posted.  But, I am looking forward to the spring and summer, especially summer. My husband and I are both going on a mission trip to Hungary and then plan to stay an extra week to tour Vienna and Salzburg, Austria and Venice, Italy. That should bring a host of beautiful photos!