{"id":75218,"date":"2018-10-13T11:44:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T11:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/?p=75218"},"modified":"2018-10-13T11:44:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T11:44:51","slug":"praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/praise\/","title":{"rendered":"PRAISE"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had a session in August with a GORGEOUS family! They asked me to keep the family photos off the interwebs since they wanted to use them for CHRISTMAS!<\/p>\n

And when I got done – they were some of my FAVORITE family shots! But – I couldn’t “show them off” – go figure!<\/p>\n

I had a session in September with a family and they asked me to NOT post the photos – and … THEY WERE MY FAVORITE!!<\/p>\n

But – since you couldn’t see WHO they were – I did post a few!<\/p>\n

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I REALLY REALLY hope they order a GIANT print of the dancing one!<\/p>\n

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ALL THIS TO SAY – who am I looking to get praise from?<\/p>\n

Obviously my clients – at the end of the day – it doesn’t matter WHO might happen to “like” my photo if the client doesn’t love it.<\/p>\n

Shouldn’t that be it? I could argue that in this business I NEED other people to see photos of families & seniors & brides & grooms & babies AND love those photos and therefore ask me to take their photos!<\/p>\n

But what if the ONLY people who saw the photos I take were the people IN THOSE PHOTOS.<\/p>\n

Would it be enough? Shouldn’t it be enough?<\/p>\n

I post the photos I take because I LOVE THEM! I love the people in them. I love the moments I capture. The tiny details.<\/p>\n

I believe that the unique eye God gave me is worth something.<\/p>\n

Do you know what I love to do most to relax? Edit. (and binge-watch star trek series) but – EDIT. I love taking photos and I LOVE editing photos.<\/p>\n

It’s relaxing and life-giving and inspiring and BEAUTIFUL.<\/p>\n

Like I said – I believe that God gave me this gift. And I praise Him by using this gift. By giving you long-lasting memories – BEAUTIFUL long-lasting memories.<\/p>\n

And really – at the end of the day – it ONLY matters if the person paying me LOVES their photos.<\/p>\n

It’s hard being stuck in that place where I need other people to see and love my photography and ask me to photograph them BUT I need the people IN the photos to be happy with what I’ve given them.<\/p>\n

When I have a FANTASTIC session and the only people that see them are the ones in them – it’s been hard for me to not show the world.<\/p>\n

I get it. I respect that my clients don’t want their faces ALL over the internet.<\/p>\n

I’m discovering that your (the general public) praise might be what I’m looking for.<\/p>\n

WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT ME IS ENOUGH. Should be enough.<\/p>\n

A girl at after-school care asked me about shaving her head – because she hates her hair. People pick on her about her hair. And her teeth. And her weight.<\/p>\n

I asked her – do those things bother YOU? No. But they bother everyone else.<\/p>\n

LISTEN. People are ALWAYS going to tell what they THINK is wrong with you. I wish I could tell you that it will get better as you get older.<\/p>\n

You can’t change other people. And while what they’re doing isn’t kind or right or good – you can only change YOU.<\/p>\n

And Jesus LOVES you. And He would die for you OVER & OVER again. And He looks at you and calls you worthy. He looks at you and calls you BEAUTIFUL!<\/p>\n

REMEMBER THAT!!<\/p>\n

SO – if I’m gonna practice what I preach – I need to STOP CARING about what everyone might think about these pictures I take. STOP CARING about how many likes they might be getting.<\/p>\n

STOP CARING that people might not see some of my best work. Because – the people who are hanging those photos in their house – LOVED THEM.<\/p>\n

START REALLY BELIEVING THAT I AM ENOUGH. Because Jesus tells me that I am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a session in August with a GORGEOUS family! They asked me to keep the family photos off the interwebs since they wanted to use them for CHRISTMAS! And when I got done – they were some of my FAVORITE family shots! But – I couldn’t “show them off” – go figure! I had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[85,11,19,24,33,58],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75511,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75218\/revisions\/75511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bardenphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}