Get Acquainted Shoot!

With a house full of needs and long of to do lists, there are not to many times my husband or I get alone. Last Saturday I took off for a shoot, just me my new camera and the beauty of our area! I was not sure where I was going, but I headed towards the Columbia River Gorge and ended up driving along the Sandy River.

I stopped where I saw a picture waiting to happen, I turned around when I passed something that might look interesting, and I probably made some people a little mad because it was Saturday not Sunday, yet I was out for a drive, slow at times!

OK, you need the story of the sign! I found myself noticing lots of street names of people I know (Kimberly Ct, Ellis street, ETC) I finally stopped to shoot a sign, thinking why am I not stopping, this is what I am out for! I pulled to the shoulder and thought it felt a little sloppy, but I would only be a moment and I was already parked so what would be the point in moving! I took the pics and then got back into go...yep my wheels spun. I laughed at the thought of calling my husband to pull me out! Luckily I was able to rock back and forth to free the tire, but sprayed mud all over the side of the van! You should check out the car wash pictures I took shortly after! LOL!

I had a sweet day. Enjoyed the freedom, but after a couple of hours realized it is more fun to shoot with other people, as co-photographers or models! Enjoy a sample of my Get Acquainted with my new camera shoot! She is a nice new friend who I plan to enjoy using! =-)

You don't want a premature blessing!

I don't care how much a woman enjoys being pregnant, during the last few weeks all she thinks about is being done with the pregnancy and finally seeing her new baby face to face!

In 1992 I was put on bed rest for the last 6 months of a pregnancy with twins! Yes, I did mean 6 months, no it is not a typo! I had to monitor my contractions for 1 hour 2 times a day and fax the information into a call center. If I was not contracting to much I could take a quick shower and then back to bed! JOY! If I was contracting too much I would need to take some medication through a tube in my leg and then monitor again. If still having to many contractions I would need to be taken to the hospital, usually to stay for a week. During these week long stays I underwent magnesium drug treatments. If you have never had one of these treatments you can not imagine what it is like. It plays with your mind as well as your body. I truly felt like I was going to die. It makes you so hot that the hospital staff turns the heat off in your room before they even start the IV! And the nurses who do not understand made me feel like I was just complaining so I would have something to do! But it works really well in stopping pre-term labor, so I took the treatments!

I ate all my meals laying on my left side, drank a gallon or more of water a day, and lived with heartburn you would not have believed! I was taking so many drugs to help keep the contractions down to a minimum that my face was all blotchy, the circles under my eyes were huge and dark, I looked like a drug addict! Some of the meds made me shaky and that coupled with the loss of muscles from laying down all the time made it so I could get winded walking to the bathroom!

There were so many days, laying in my bed watching life go by I had to remind myself why I was doing it. Towards the end I was shaking so bad I couldn't even read a book, the words jumped all over the page, that is if my hands could hold it still enough! Every day I asked God to get me through to the end, and I asked Him for healthy baby boys, and often I asked for the pregnancy to be done fast! Yes, I too got to the end and couldn't wait for it to be over. I did not enjoy much anymore! I was about done!

On March 25, 1993 the Portland OR area had a good size earthquake! It happened just about 20 minutes after the water sack of one of my boys broke. At the time the earth shook, my husband and I were getting ready for our final trip to the hospital (at least for this pregnancy) and I was delighted! Soon it was ending and I would see my new baby boys face to face! It was so time, I was so done with being pregnancy!

I was in the operating room, my husband by my side, watching. One of the worlds best doctors (to me anyway) cut me open and removed the smallest baby I have ever seen! Many things go through a mothers mind when she first lays eyes on her new baby. The thought I had was put him back, he is not done yet! In that moment all that could be wrong with these two precious babies flew through my mind. I almost started to cry, maybe I did, I can't say! My 4 lbs 5 ½ oz identical baby boys came into the world 4 ½ weeks early without a problem at all! They ate right off the bat, breathing was fine, and they slept and ate as normal newborn babies should! After a 4 day stay, all 3 of us were released to go home! I took home babies that were around 3 pounds each! WOW! Miracle? Blessing? YES!

In the past 17 years I have thought about the twins pregnancy and birth often. I remember how for a few months before the birth I prayed for it to be over! I praise God in His great wisdom He did not answer that prayer on my timing! Can you imagine even 1 pound less? We could have lost them! Thank you Jesus!!!

I find it is like that in life as well! You've heard the phrase, “birthing something new”? In our lives there are seasons, events and many unknown outcomes. There are ample times we must endure, go through, wait it out. Like I did in the last months we often pray for it to end soon. We want to skip the hardship and be handed the blessing right away. But I caution you! Don't pray for a premature blessing! Don't be in such a hurry that the blessing you get will create extra work and hardship! Had my twins been born with problems, they would have been the same blessing! But all of our lives would have looked much different! And the stress of a premature baby is huge! I'm betting that a blessing is a blessing! But the stress of a premature blessing is huge, and your life will look much different than it will if you can just hang in there and wait for God to bring it to full term!

As I continue to allow God to form Miche Photography I realize it is a blessing from God! I also realize this is a birthing process and I totally want it to be a full term blessing! I will wait on God, I will continue to do the right things, the healthy things, and TRY to enjoy the final moments of this “pregnancy”! For when it is time, God will birth a healthy business! One that will meet needs for me and my family, and also bring glory to Him!

Recently I was honored to do a shoot with a couple expecting 2 little girls! Enjoy the pictures from this twin pregnancy shoot!

Blessings (full term blessings that is) =-)

Michelle

Check out the new website!

michephotography.zenfolio.com

And I'm off!

Sunday night I started my website! Michephotography.zenfolio.com! Please check it out and sign the guest book for me! It really was not difficult at all. The site gave vary clear directions and spaces for me to fill everything in. It also laid out the different choices I could make to change theme, colors and the layout. Easy enough! BUT... I found myself reading only the minimum to move on to the next step. I would read the first line or so and think, oh I know what they meant, or OK, I got it. Sometimes I did have it, but more often I had to go back and get more information that would have helped me had I just taken an extra minute to read all the words in every step!

I don't know about you, but I do this with life also! Our society is so busy, and on the move that often we jump first and look next. This can be so dangerous at times! I think God sometimes looks down on us and laughs, like a father would at an inexperienced naive little child! I do a lot of volunteer time at my children's school. I can not tell you how often I hear teachers say, “please put your hands down until I am finished explaining all the directions!” And I must say, at the end of ALL the directions there are fewer questions!

I wonder how much better and less stressful my life would be if I just waited for God to give me ALL the directions first? If I truly took the time and sunk my teeth into His living word! If I really sought Him and His will for my life before I said YEP, I am going to...do this, say that....!

Lord help me to seek first Your kingdom! Let me ask for Your wisdom. Let me learn to hear Your voice above all others! Lead me Lord, give me directions!

Michelle

Let go and let God

Well, I am getting ready to do some huge things on Monday! I will post new prices, launch a website where you can order prints and take Miche Photography to a new level! Nervous? Yes. Frightened? No. You see I am learning that there is a huge difference. I know God has called me to start Miche Photography, He has proved that to me many times over. I also know He will guide and help me every step of the way, all I need to do is ask (and oh I will)! I also know that there will be bumps in the road, problems I will need to solve, and I know that it will come down to my knowledge, my ability and my faith. However, I do get all those things from Him! See a little nervous, but not frightened. This is new for me, Praise the Lord! He is so good!

God "down loaded" a thought to me this weekend, with a vary small bit of faith, God can move a mountain! Sometimes He moves it one rock at a time!

Blessings! Michelle

Here I go a blogging!

WOW, sometimes when God asks you to start something new it can consume a lot of your time! I know I need to blog, because He is doing so much I just need to tell everyone!So forgive me for taking the unannounced break, but here we go! I am back!

My husband and I have attended 4 churches in our 19 years of marriage. All have had a different feel to them, all give us a little different look at who God is and all He has done to show us His love. At our current church many people observe a time of lent. Lent is the 40 days before Easter in which a person might give something up and use that time to pray for something else. Many people give up food items, TV, games, activities. I have decided to give up a little fear. I am using this 40 days to push myself to do as much to further Miche Photography as I can. I am not going to talk about how scary it is to pay for a business license I am just going to get one because I need it. I have researched websites from where I will be able to sell my photo's and I will be launching one within a few weeks! Because I need it! I am also making an investment into a new camera and some new gear, because I need it! During this 40 days I am not going to allow myself to look at the walls that might be in my way, I am going to make myself look at the path God is laying in front of me! I will push down fear, I will pray it away. I will resist it and it will flee from me!
It is God's gifts in me that I operate in, it is He who has put the desires in my heart, and it is He who will cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. I love Him!
I am excited about what God will do with me and with Miche Photography in the next 40 (well just a few less now) days! He is good, and I am so loved by Him! We all are!

My recent shoots!

What a fun day I had! I did a family shoot in a new location around Portland and then headed to the Hollywood district to shoot a friend. First of all, this was my first “model” shoot. For the most part I have been doing family, couples, children and baby pictures. These are a blast, and I have enjoyed every one of them. It is fun to get a groove with people and when I really find out what works for them we begin to see great “them” shots!

But this metro shoot was all about what I wanted to shoot! The beautiful Lynette posed how I wanted, where I wanted and did what I needed to get just the shot I was looking for. We drove around and when we found a door way of a church, or a colored wall on a building, boom, we stopped, jumped out and were shooting within a moment! Fun! And really productive! I got a huge amount of shots to work with, and I do mean huge!

That got me to thinking about my relationship with God (I know most everything gets me to thinking about my relationship with God)! How much more could He accomplish in our lives if we would just cooperate with Him and His plan? WOW! I wonder how much time we waist winning about what He needs us to do to get the result He is desiring? When I was shooting Lynette it was all about what I wanted yes, but in the end she will benefit from some great portraits of herself! And let me tell you I was able to make her look her best! Just like God is able to make us look our best...IF we just stand where He tells us, move when He says move, be still when He says be still... Is it really that simple? I think it is!

Lord, help me to hear your voice in all things. Help me to listen, not complain and most of all be ready to do and say and act the way You need, so that I can be all that you created me to be!

CHAIN REACTION

There seems to be many fine lines when living a life for Christ! There's a fine line between faith and make believe. There is a fine line between talking that faith and lying. And a fine line between waiting on God and not moving forward.

God has given me a dream, a vision and many people to encourage me along the way with my Photography business. I have sat down and formed a plan of action. Now I am waiting to see God work His plan in this. Don't get me wrong, He has moved mighty mountains for me in this, and I am so thankful! This is not a complaint, it is just an observation. It seems that God works on a chain reaction system. He gives one link, and we must move, or believe, or trust with the next link, then He will give another link. It works, of course it works, He is God!

The link I seem to be on is trust! As the weather gets wetter, I am forced to look to studio work. My first thought was to get a business loan and start building a studio to call my own. But is that God's plan? I am not so sure. I know people and ministries and business' that God has provided much money, support, buildings ECT, for just when needed. So that has been my prayer, God please provide all that I need. Once I started to pray that a friend told me about a place that rents studio time to photographers! I looked it up, and it is so reasonable! God's link? I say YES!!

And now my prayer is that I will learn how to use the lights, and how my camera works in doors! It seems that my brain is getting a bit better at the learning curve! At first I just barely grasped the technical stuff. I had to read the same thing over and over again just to understand. But the more I learn the easier it seems for me to grasp! THANK GOD, I can learn new things! =)

Please continue to pray for me! I started putting pictures on stock. I posted 18 shots, and all 18 were rejected for various reasons. Mostly because I have to scan in the models release not just have it on file! Now I know! I also now have an understanding of just what they want and what sells. But, I have never dealt well with rejection of any kind, so here I am, help me Lord know that my acceptance comes from You and no one else. Lord help me recognize when I am to put the link in the chain, and when I am to wait on You to do it. Thank you for leading me this far! God is good, all the time!