Follow the blog circle with other CMpro photographers who took on the challenge for the month. Visit Jessica Holden’s blog for her interpretation.

Last month I shared that I will be part of a missions team to Costa Rica this July. Our team will be working with children, particularly those that have been abandoned or exploited. I am really looking forward to everything we will get to do during our time in Costa Rica and all the new faces I will get to meet. As I mentally prepare my son for the time I will be away, I have been explaining to him the gift that he is giving to children that he doesn’t even know by simply sharing me. I am very eager to love and serve all the children and people there that are in need of hope.

In the beginning of this month, I held a photography class as a fundraiser for my trip. It was such a huge success that I will be offering this class again in less than two weeks! On Saturday May 4th from 9 am until about 12:30 pm, I will be hosting a photography 101 class for individuals who want to master the basics of photography and begin capturing everyday life with creative freedom. Think of it as your crash course on learning how to use your dSLR camera to its full potential. The class will provide lots of hands-on learning so you can walk away knowing how to properly expose an image in manual mode. The use of light and composition will also be covered.

$100 reserves your class seat and supports my mission to Costa Rica this summer. There is a limited number of seats!
To reserve your spot simply email or call me: info@beirabrown.com | 610-334-6027

Enough about sleep and alarms and illnesses. I do have some images to share…I’m trying to get there. First, I need to share with you that two of my images were selected for the CMpro Spring Gallery. Pretty awesome, right? It’s a true honor–the caliber of work amongst this group of photographers is very inspiring. You’ll have to check out the gallery to see for yourself.

So now onto my most recent personal work which I share daily on the Daily Project…

If you are looking to update your family portraits or need senior portraits (that’s you, class of 2014!), give me a call or email me soon. I only have a couple of openings in the month of May and June. 610-334-6027 or info@beirabrown.com

This month’s creativity challenge with my cmpro friends was perspectives. As an artist, I’ve grown in being confident and true to my perspective. When I am behind the camera I see a certain way. I shoot a certain way. It’s my perspective. It’s the way my eyes are romanced by the details before me. But it’s always a great reminder to stop and ask myself, is there a detail I’m missing because I’m not pushing myself to change perspective? Am I missing the way the light is so beautifully highlighting an object because I’m not looking for it or I’m stuck on the wrong side of the object? Being intentional to shoot with a creative perspective in mind was definitely a challenge, but I the growth (even if small) I gained was worth the frustration along the way.

I hope you are enjoying the blog circle as much as I am. It’s always a mystery waiting to see what my fellow cmpro’s are posting. Be sure to circle through and treat yourself to some eye candy by starting with Gigi McGill’s blog.

I shared on Facebook last week that I will be part of a missions team to Costa Rica this coming July. I am super excited for the opportunity to go and do what I love. I am sure I will have photos to share with you once I return. Because of the time I will be away as well as the time commitment required to prepare for this trip, my availability will be very limited in the month of July. Please contact me soon to schedule your senior portrait experience or to book your family photo session (info@beirabrown.com | 610-334-6027).

As much as I have been counting down the days to see the last day of winter in the history books, I have enjoyed being part of the CMpro Daily Project and capturing my everyday life. I have neglected to share those images with you–how is that possible? I am changing that now. I also post my daily images on my Facebook business page–go hit “like” on my page if you haven’t already. I am sharing some of my recent images for now, but look for a weekly post with a week’s worth of images. If you would rather follow along on my journey daily or to see past images, you can view my archives on the CMpro Daily Project.

Let’s hope it’s a while before we see more snow!

This challenge came with perfect timing for my family and I. One of my goals for 2013 has been to be more intentional in many areas of my life like relationships, reading, and the way I do things in business. Early in February, John (my husband) and I felt prompted to change the way we eat, specifically what we eat. For the most part, we have been responsible in making healthy food choices over the last five years. However, we took it to a new level this month and committed to eating clean. Out with the processed foods, the unnecessary sugar, and anything that should not be in food. We’ve spent countless hours doing research and talking to family and friends who have clean eating habits. We made a commitment and threw out things we now believe to be harmful, mostly foods that we were purchasing out of convenience when we could make perfectly better ones with just a little extra planning. Our biggest challenge would be convincing our son, Micah, to try new foods and part with old ones…or so we thought. He loved candy. He loved sweets. Loved, as in past tense. A day or so after John and I made our decision, we were incorporating Micah’s favorite candies into his math lesson. John explained to him what we have come to know about these candies and then gave him a choice–eat the candies that aren’t very healthy or have a few dark chocolate morsels that are healthier than the candy. My brilliant boy chose the dark chocolate but he didn’t stop there. He said, “Papi, if these candies are not good for us then we should throw them out!” He then proceeded to empty out a container full of candy into the trash can! We were not planning on throwing the candy out. We thought we would just not purchase it again once it ran out. It turned out that we were very wrong. Actually our little lady, Eliora, has given us a harder time but both kids are trying new foods and giving it their best effort. We are not completely where we want to be with what we are consuming but we feel so much better health-wise and my husband has even shed some weight. My energy level is at a new high and I am loving the time I spend in the kitchen. I am learning to eat new things and thoroughly enjoying it. Anyone close to me knows that I’ve never cared for cooking. My husband has been the main cook of the house since we were married ten years ago (March 8th!). If I’m completely honest, I’ve never really cared for food. I think the only time in my life I’ve thoroughly enjoyed food was when I was pregnant. Now John is finding himself doing a dance in the kitchen trying not to run into me because I am in his space that I am beginning to claim as my own.

I tried to grab my camera several times throughout the month so I could share some of the foods we have been savoring. Once you get through my images, don’t forget to visit Christina McGuire’s blog and make your way through the circle.

Looks healthy, right? This was a before clean eating, loaded with unnecessary salt and paired with “pan de agua” that was loaded with preservatives. We will make some adjustments to the recipe next time we want broccoli soup.

You can say we drank the juice    I wish I had discovered sooner how flavorful green veggies and fruits can be when blended together. Maybe I would have included more greens like kale and spinach in my diet. I might not like eating/chewing them too much, but I’ll drink them any day…even a couple times in one day.

The ingredients:
spinach
celery
kiwi
apple
ginger root–this makes a flavorful difference!
flaxseed meal
the juice of half a lemon
ice

I drank every last bit of it!I must absolutely share the recipe for this amazing guacamole salad. We have been making this for months and every single time we have it, we just fall in love with all the bold flavors. John says it’s like fireworks going off in your mouth. It is SO good I could eat it every other day. I had to make some substitutes the day I made this since I was out of yellow peppers and red onion so the red peppers and yellow/white (whichever is the correct color of it) had to do. On this day I served it with a few sprouted black bean chips. Here’s the recipe so you can make it in your home. Lastly, you might get a chuckle at my first loaf of bread. But guess what? I made bread and it was “the best bread ever!” according to Micah. It was free of preservatives, which we didn’t need since it was consumed within a day of baking (one loaf disappeared before cooling), and I know exactly what went into it. I’m learning about gluten and the different types of flours. I’m hopeful that my bread will only improve in taste and looks the more time I invest making it.I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s post and perhaps you are inspired to add some fresh, clean meals into your diet. If you want to see or try what I’m making at home for my family, go follow me on Pinterest and check out my clean eating board. Do you have a clean recipe that you love? Please share!

One of the things I love most about photographing newborns is getting close and getting to document all the little details that parents want to remember. It’s those features on their tender faces and little bodies that parents study in the early days and try to engrave in their memories.

I have a hard time covering up a full head of hair that is this perfect.

Lashes like this as a newborn…talk about blessed!

She has a perfect little belly button.

If you don’t go “awwwwwww” with this last shot, please go check your pulse    She is so, so beautiful like her big sisters and mother.

For January we were challenged to get up close and personal with our subjects. I added to the challenge by choosing one of my little ones as my subject. Believe me, not always an easy task!

My little man lives life with INTENSITY. Everything about him. He’s intense in the way he displays kindness, the way he jokes around, the way he laughs, the way he speaks and demands attention, the way he plays, and the way he cares for his lovies who sleep with him at night. Spirited is what I love to call him. The fact that I was a spirited child growing up (still am!) makes me appreciate the moodier side of him…the one that makes me wonder the big dreams he dreams up in his mind everyday. Sometimes as I watch him, it makes me wonder if he knows bigger things of life that I don’t know or could simply not comprehend.It’s rare that anyone outside the family gets to see the moody side above. He is one super pleasant and happy child who has some killer lashes to go along…

…with his gorgeous big blue eyes.Visit Gigi McGill’s blog to continue the blog circle.

In the past few years, John (my husband) and I have made an effort to set some traditions for our family. These are the little things that have really brought meaning this year and make us look forward to the next one. We can’t wait to be doing some of these same things 20 years down the road with our grown children.

It’s been ages since I’ve been there, but we made it a point to head out to Christmas Village this year with the kids. We had a really nice time walking around, talking about different ways Christmas is celebrated around the world, and enjoying the sights of lights.

A few nights before Christmas, I made my grandmother’s “arroz con dulce”. It’s my second year making it and it has already earned it’s spot as one of our traditions. Since it takes three hours to complete this recipe (which includes FIVE pounds of sugar) with constant stirring, it’s a perfect time to chit chat in the kitchen. My youngest sister joined me this year and we had a fun time.On Christmas Eve you can be sure to find us with our church family. It is such a special time to reflect and celebrate the true meaning of the season. Our church puts on a beautiful Christmas Eve experience and we are so grateful to be a part of it.Of course, Christmas morning with the kids is awesome! I enjoyed it this year as much as I did as a child. One of our traditions is to read the Christmas story from the Bible before opening presents. This year my little guy put to practice all the reading lessons we’ve been having in our schooling and took over the reading! I guess he must have thought I would’ve taken too long reading. I certainly had a proud teacher moment. He’s such a cool guy! It has worked out for both last year and this year that our little lady slept in a little later than her brother which allowed John and I time opening presents with them individually without missing either of their reactions. You can see somebody was very excited to get that “red and green back-loading garbage truck without a flat front but if it has a flat front I’ll still be happy.” You can also see I goofed and ordered the flat front truck BEFORE I knew it was a big deal. When it came down to it though, it really didn’t make a difference to him. He loves his new truck.

An ornament exchange has become another tradition for us. It’s pretty fun putting up the tree while sharing the story behind each special ornament. We are looking forward to the day when we can ditch the generic balls and fill our tree with ornaments we have gifted each other throughout the years.  In the end, the holidays to me are about Jesus and the perfect gift He has been for us. He is the reason why I am full of joy at Christmas and every other day of the year!

Every year for their anniversary, her husband adds a diamond to her bracelet.