Connected – Page 2 – ALLYSON ELL PHOTOGRAPHY

October 14, 2014

Thankful | Life in Black & White | October

It’s time for another glimpse of my life in black and white. Since yesterday was Thanksgiving, I decided to share about how thankful I am for the life I have. The last two years have not been easy. Our family has faced the loss of life, life changing illness, mental health problems, marital issues, job loss, and a car accident. There are times where my husband and I have hit rock bottom, sometimes individually and sometimes together. But through out it all we have managed to hold on. The ability to support one another, and to gain strength from one another is something we work hard at. I am so grateful to have the love and support of my husband, and my whole external family network. But mostly I am grateful for my children. They have been the light and joy in my life that reminds of all the good there is in the world. Their smiles, hugs and innocent view of the world, has kept me grounded and helped me to survive being an adult. They remind me daily to slow down and focus on the little joys of everyday moments. And throughout all the stresses, they have remained calm, happy and loving.

I am thankful that they have sat patiently and offered love during a few too many hospital visits to see family:

I am thankful that they have have given me hugs and wiped away my tears as we remember the little brother or sister that they lost. My four year old even offered his loving and gentle perspective on life when he and I recently visited the Little Spirits Memorial Gardens to remember his lost sibling:

I am thankful at the maturity my oldest has shown as he has persevered through missing a month of schooling. Now that grade four has officially started for him, he has taken on his studies with such a quest for knowledge and eagerness to learn:

I am thankful for the way my youngest keeps us laughing with his wonderful personality. No matter what happens he is the one we can rely on to make us smile:

I am thankful to be a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a friend, a documenter of all the things that make up our life. I am thankful that I am reminded daily by my boys to stop, pause, breathe and just be.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Please follow the circle to Vanessa’s post.

September 30, 2014

Outlook on life | Victoria life photographer

Sometimes I need to really remind myself about how blessed my life is. I have two beautiful children and a loving husband. I have two careers that I am good at. But sometimes it’s hard not to get caught up in the stress and business of life. Sometimes keeping up with life really takes it toll. Sometimes I really want to scream – ENOUGH. I’ve had enough. And then I take a moment and I breathe… just breathe. And I break things, throw things, hit things, eat sugary and salty carbs, drink adult drinks… and then breathe again. It’s hard not to give up. It’s hard to keep going. It’s hard not to keep yelling at my kids. I’m hard on me.

Then I breathe again.

And I remind myself to just be.

Just be.

Then suddenly I catch a moment when I see the world through the eyes of one of my children… the big wonderful, awe inspiring world. And it is enough. I take a breath and I can feel blessed once more. liam_fisgard2

August 5, 2014

Life in Black & White | August

Thanks for joining me for another glimpse of my life in black and white.

The last month I have been on such a personal journey to find and define my voice and my style in photography. I have come to realize that I love capturing those moments that make you look back on life and really remember it – good times and bad. As I work on my journey, along with my other full time job, parenthood, and marriage, I realize I owe so much to my husband. He helps to hold things together. He currently works from home two days a week so that he can look after and spend time with our four year old. Some days I arrive home to find them at war with each other. All this time together means they know how to push each others’ buttons. But they also have a very special bond. While I was in post c-section surgery, my husband was the one to hold and snuggle Liam during his first year of life. The very first smiles Liam gave out were to his daddy. So when I captured these photos of the two of them, I knew they portrayed that special connection they have. I hope as the years go by, and the arguments get louder, that they will always remember these daddy and Liam days – the good and not so good ones… and that they celebrate this time that they had together.

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Please continue on in the blog circle to have a glimpse at the life of my fabulous friend (who takes the best self-portraits ever) Alice Che.

August 2, 2014

My Voice & The Yan Fam Way Experience

I have finally found my own voice…

It’s taken me almost two weeks to compose this blog post. Two weeks to take in, chew-up and process the experience I had in Seattle.

But I have found my voice, my vision… I found me.

I recently took a trip on my own (no kids, no husband) to Seattle, WA. It was to attend a photography workshop with a group of talented women, and lead by the very talented Yan Palmer. I adore Yan and her work. I fell in love with her images a few years ago while she was going through a difficult time in life, and I was too. I watched as her images told the story of her emotions, her thoughts, her rawness and even her vulnerability. So when she announced her workshop dates, and I saw a location only a few hours from me, I jumped at the chance to meet this person who had so inspired me.

She taught me things – but not about how to be like her, or pose and shoot and process like her. Although we did get to watch her do a family shoot – and I learned a lot of great tips from that. She really does some magic with families.

yan

But mostly, she taught about connections. About how to connect with myself – and how to connect myself to my work. She taught me how to become a purple cow. She challenged me. She was honest. Somehow she made us all open up to our vulnerabilities and work with them. She lead each of us to the start of a path and left us starting on a journey.

I left inspired, renewed, and a little raw. And then I saw it.

The voice. The vision. The person I wanted to be. The photographer I wanted to be. The photographer I am. I know that I want my work to please someone – me. I am working on pleasing me. Shooting images for me. Taking the style that I have been trying so hard to find, and now running with it. I found it.

My style. What makes my photos, my photos.

So now I am about to embark on a journey to be able to share my voice with you all. Some people may not like it. And that is okay. But I will love it. I will own it. I will rock it.

My family has had an incredibly hard year – and we are facing a tougher year still. But through these emotionally challenging days, I have stories to share. Memories to cherish. Moments that will inspire. Moments that will leave me breathless. I am going to capture these moments, so every time I see these images, the emotions they evoke will flood me with the feelings, and reconnect me to me.

I hope that out there, there is another mom like me, who wants her story captured too. Because I am going to capture that for her.

Was the YamFamWay workshop worth it – absoultely. Did I learn all of Yan’s secrets? Nope, proabably not all of them – but I did learn so much more. Did I figure out what was missing from my photos – you betcha. But I’ve found it now. That raw honesty and the pure heart and soul that she pours into her workshops make it the amazing experience she promises it to be. She is open and honest and soul seeking. She really is as wonderful in person as her on-line presence. And she really did help me to figure me out and find my way.

Thanks for helping me find it Yan! (You might want to consider renaming the Yan Fam Way workshop to the Yan Find My Way workshop!)

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Thanks to Heather for opening her home to us. and to Katy for letting up capture her beautiful family during the workshop shoot. Aren’t they the adorable!

Louie

To that group of women I connected with in Seattle, and to the inspiring Diana Palmer – thank you for letting me open up and share, and laugh and cry. Thanks for the fun times, the emotional times, the honesty, the love languages, the process, the Tarasco! (Special thanks to Kristin for hanging out and taking my new head shots… and for that embarrassing moment at PF Chang’s!)

XO
Ally