erikaLEIGHphotography is in the middle of some big changes… biggest and soonest being a move back to the heartland!

More on THIS and all other changes when we get all the fun sorted out!

In the meantime, have some fun and HAPPY 2012!

ALEX. He's so DAPPER.

We all know I love quotes… so in keeping with tradition I wanted to lead off this post highlighting our June QUICKTAKE:  DAPPER DUDES with a great and noble quote about men.  I didn’t know this was going to be such a challenge.  This lead quote is probably the most PG and fitting one I could find.  Because this Sunday were looking for youthful and lively men to show up at Buckhead Grand for our monthly QUICKTAKE… I get its implied meaning… I do… and I still like it! 

Find your favorite dude and get him dapper for this Sunday… bring the babes (dudes and chicks) dressed in their finest for some fab and chic ‘in-studio’ shots!  Only $40 for 15-minute sessions… HALF OFF for three generations and only $25 for the lovely residents of Buckhead Grand that open their doors to ELP this weekend!  More details can be found here.

I planned on writing about some of my DAPPER DUDES… but got highly inspired (and happy) after reading many hilarious men quotes.  please note:  ELP does not agree with all of these (key word: ALL) though some may find their appropriate place in response to various situations in me and my friends’ lives.  I must mention… lyrics from Dude by Aerosmith were reviewed… very unfitting.  MORE unfitting though a song called ‘Dude’ by Beenie Man… funny, but unfitting.  Check them out (if you’re over 21 and need a laugh).

‘Can you imagine a world without men?  No crime and lots of happy fat women.’  Attributed to both Marion Smith & Nicole Hollander.

‘If it can’t be fixed by duct tape or WD-40, it’s a female problem.’  Jason Love.

‘I want a man who’s kind and understanding.  Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?’  Zsa Zsa Gabor.

‘If men can run the world, why can’t they stop wearing neckties?  How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?’  Linda Ellerbee.

‘Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.’  Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard.

PLEASE PLEASE… if you have any GOOD and REASONABLE quotes about the goodness of men… comment with them below or send to fun@erikaleighphotography.com!  I’ll need a few more for this week! 

As always… stay in touch!  erika@erikaleighphotography.com

go saints… really go falcons but hey.  I spent three days in Miami with good friends and good drinks and now I’m back hitting the shooting schedule… not without first watching the SuperBowl on TV from a comfortable couch/chair… not from Section 104 or any other.  Couldn’t have been happier.  Good Saints victory… and also… good google commercial!

love love… more soon… erika.  erika@erikaleighphotography.com.

It starts right off with a bat with January’s LIVE PHOTO BOOTH special.  This wedding add-on, event showstopper and memory maker was MADE for erikaLEIGHphotography.  Two words mean fun, unforgettable wedding:  OPEN BAR  but if you had three words it would be LIVE PHOTO BOOTH.

Book by January 31 for HALF OFF your very own LIVE PHOTO BOOTH.

For more information on this and all the other good stuff coming up in 2010 email ELP:  fun@erikaleighphotography.com.

More updates as the promotions get locked in… ELP is gonna work hard in 2010… but with everything in the planning sessions so far… it will be more FUN, than work.

As always… be in touch:  erika@erikaleighphotography.com

NON-PHOTOG NEWS:  That Michelle on this season’s ‘The Bachelor‘… she’s one-of-a-kind.

ELP September $125 Holiday Special.

OH YES OH YES!  It’s that time of year… to start organizing the address book, start writing the annual update and start piecing through photos to send to the inlaws/outlaws, neighbors, co-workers, friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents, etc… Make it fun and easy this year and take advantage of ELP’s Special… $125 will get you one on location two-hour session, two online galleries, and three digital files… the only hard part will be trying to figure out which one’s your favorite!

But seriously… I’ve got much love for family but ELP’s availability is limited this fall!  So take advantage quick.  Email fun@erikaleighphotography.com for more details!   Tacky sweaters not required, but appreciated…………. jokes, jokes.  :)

Can’t wait to hear from you!  erika@erikaleighphotography.com!

Light Love.

It’s a dangerous shot for my sweet little camera… going into the sun like that.  I knew it’d be worth it.  I look at it and feel it’s just them but at the same time feel like something else is there with them in the  shot……..

I will keep this so very short.  I touched on my belief in the importance of faith in my number four inspiration, Buckhead Church.  I also touched on how sensitive a subject faith and religion is in that same write up.  I must say though I think it is too taboo now a days… I understand not pushing religion or belief on others but to feel odd to even talk about it is a sign of our times.  We are all so worried about being ‘politically correct’ that we forget what our own opinions are.  God is my number one inspiration… in work, in life and everything I am.  If I make anyone uncomfortable, I do apologize.  But at the same time I make one feel uncomfortable I hope that person is uncomfortable because they have as strong as an inspiration elsewhere just in another form.

I have been in and out of religion.  I went to church when I was younger because it is what we did.  I didn’t believe… in a lot of what they were saying but it wasn’t something that bothered me… I just went, because it’s what we did.  Biggest thing I didn’t agree with though was the thinking that if one didn’t go to church they weren’t religious or spiritual.  Because they preach the love of God but warn that one has to attend church in order to talk to  Him… it just seemed odd to me that the love He gave could only come for an hour on Sunday.  But ironicially after it was made clear by my pastor at Buckhead Church you didn’t have to be in the building to be with God, I starting attending without fail.  I attend the 6pm service every Sunday even after long work days or big Falcons wins or if I am traveling I find it online.  Buckhead Church has done wonderful things for me in that one hour a week… but it is God that has done them for me the other 167 hours in the week.

My friend always says ‘God is painting the ‘perfect’ picture in your life.  Just let Him paint.’  My life has been next to perfect already… I’ll admit this, but I still find those moments or those experiences where you should wonder what do you do now, why is this happening, how do I go on.  I think back on those times and the answers were always so small and for the moment.  My answers have changed as my ‘relationship’ with God has changed.  I still most definitely have problems (dang) but I find my answers in the bigger solution, in the bigger ‘picture’ if you will.  I’ll be very open (like I’ve been anything but, but still) I used to make fun of people who were what we would call ‘Bible-beaters.’  If we allow ourselves to believe in the non-human power we find less human, less strict interpretations and answers we then act less human in response… with more care, with more understanding than a human brain would less us.  Example:  You’re boss tells you, ‘You’re terrible.’  Human response:  ”No, you’re terrible.”  Lil less human response:  I’ll forgive him for that comment, he’s probably facing a harder battle.  I thought that was all nonsense until it started happening in my own life.  There’s more warmth, there’s more understanding for horrific events, there’s content in death and more joy than jealousy.  I am not a perfect Christian… I swear, I speed, I drink (among many other things I won’t mention) but my God teaches forgiveness and love and just the simple understanding of a ‘person’ that only wants to forgive and only wants to love, though it seems we’d try and get away with so much more but I’ve found it only makes me want to be a better friend, a better roommate, a better business person, a better family member… just a better person every day of my life.

I’ll go back to my #4 write up one more time in emphasizing the idea and notion of faith.  Though God is what I put my faith in… may you all find a faith that makes you believe the good is good for a reason and the bad is good for a reason, too.  There were endless quotes I thought would apply to this write up… but I chose this one about hope.  With faith, this title quote is not a question… there is hope… and I’ve said time and time again, God has hoped bigger things for me and you, than we can even begin to believe and/or hope for… He’s painting a more beautiful picture than we could comprehend… “Let Him paint”… have hope… have faith.

That wraps up ELP’s ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY IMAGE AND INSPIRATION EXTRAVAGANZA.  Heartfelt thanks to all of those who were even with us for one day!  I have FAITH that this next year will find even more beautiful images, keep the same inspirations… and maybe even, find some more.

FAMILY PORTRAIT SPECIAL rolling out soon.  Make sure you’re on ELP’s mailing address by emailing me or fun@erikaleighphotography.com to get details.  NEW BLOG DESIGN will be up as soon as I finish my second ‘Technology Tackle’ of ’09… come back soon!

As always, stay in touch… erika@erikaleighphotography.com

Mrs. Taube.

Fun.  Love.  Love fun.  Fun love.

I was a ‘daddy’s girl’ growing up.  For no specific reason, though I’m not sure there’s ever a reason… but I’m assuming the chick and chick relationship is always a little more full of tension, something scientific about ‘hormones’ etc.  :)  My mom was in charge, too.  Not like she bossed my dad around but when it came to enforcing the chores, expectations and rules my mom was more verbal than my dad.  I’m sure it wasn’t a role she enjoyed but it was necessary.  Naturally as I grew older my relationship with my mom transformed into one of deep friendship.  Oh, trust she can still put me in my place if she feels the need but I now look to her for advice and support and she is now just a person that when I have a few minutes  to spare it’s her I call to talk to (though she claims she never gets to talk to me.)

She is the one girl in a family with four kids.  Her brothers are my wonderful uncles… Mark, Reed and John.  They are all as different as you could possibly make a family.  One a dentist, one an outdoorsman/athlete and one a comedian.  Their only similarities in my mind are their love of fishing and their huge, bottomless hearts.  Growing up I thought the boys were like their mother, my Grandma… fun-loving with an endless heart.  I thought my mom was like her dad, my Grandpa… distant and strict.  I’ve gotten smarter though… Living away from my mom for almost nine years I slowly started to realize the power of her ways.  The power in her expectation, in her strictness, and in her strength, the same power I see in my Grandpa.  Growing up and seeing their relationship I wondered how he won my Grandma, he seemed cold and ornery but NOW it is obvious.  He wouldn’t let on at first, as he’s aged he’s showed the family this amazing, caring side of him… he is in complete awe of my Grandma.  In big family events when he hasn’t seen grandkids in months he’ll still take pictures and 90% of them will turn out to be just my Grandma.  We look through photo albums where he has labeled them, ‘The love of my life, Mary Ann.’  He takes her coat, helps her into her chair, reminds her of her coffee, helps her in the car all with this look on his face like he understands what love is.  This is the trait my mother has.  I never really saw it while growing up.  I recognize it now in the little things.  She has no idea how to work technology but has taught herself how to text and even joined to Twitter to stay on top of her way-too-busy daughter, she’ll send cards (like with a stamp) to me on holidays (valentine’s day even) and sometimes just because, she remembers everyone’s birthday, she probably visits my site twice a day and she forwards on any photography related news or emails.  These are small, there are large things she’s done like give birth to me (duh), buy my plan ticket out of a bad situation and visit me when she knew I needed something constant by my side.  But it is in those small moment I notice what I didn’t most of my life… and that make her so inspirational… she makes me realize you don’t have to give someone a million dollars, you don’t have to kill their enemy, you don’t have to tell someone 40 times a day that they’re great to truly love someone and change someone’s life… sometimes it is just being there.  Like she was… and still is.  It’s bare-boned loved… she doesn’t need to show it off, doesn’t need to scream it from a mountain… she loves through action.

The way she is makes me feel like my life is important… not because she tells me I’m pretty or my work is great or you can do it… but through example.  With me and with everyone, she is someone who can be counted on to care… I know that though I am just one person, I can be that one person to many in ways that don’t need fame or publicity for a job well done.  A consistent friend, a consistent mother, a consistent wife… filled with love… that’s what she is… I hope to be just like her someday… when I grow up!  :)

Love you momma!  erika@erikaleighphotography.com

Oliver & Dad

My brother remembers everything.  I often forget what year it is.  We joke Brandon remembers coming out of the birth canal… I have memories through pictures… pieced together I have a recollection of my childhood, but I don’t really remember anything, besides a few pivotal moments (the day I got in trouble for playing footsy with Dan Taylor in 4th grade… the day Ms. Barnum refused to call on me when I clearly knew the answer to the question that the hardest capital cursive letter is Q… like i said, pivotal).  There are pictures of my dad with his oversized hat and untrimmed mustache holding me as though I’m a rag doll.  My mom often reminds me that I was sick when I was younger and my dad would just hold me, my stomach and weight on his arm facing out, legs flopped down and arms over his arm and then I’d become content.  It was apparently the only solution for my discomfort.  I see that in this picture, not the same pose but same comfort… I love that a picture I took might piece together a memory for Oliver later in life… and the fact that a current picture pieces even my own ‘memory’.  There are days I still wish I could be slung over my dads arm…

My dad is my hero.  He’s inspiring on so many levels… And I basically have to twist the understanding of inspiring here.  I want to be just like him… he is my inspiration.  It’s not just a quality.  When I was younger I would eat raw potatoes with salt on them because he did.  I would eat every bit of spicy food (though, nine times out of ten, I was disgusted with the lack of feeling my tongue felt after said foods) because that is how he loved things.  I feel like early on I thought if I ate like him I would get to be just like him.  Like maybe it was his affinity towards excessively uncomfortable foods that made everyone around him happy… that made him so carefree… that made people love him.  I know now that no amount of hot sauce on my chicken would attract people and happiness the way my father did.  I still can’t explain it.  But if I were to give you one defining piece of amazing about my dad it would be his capacity for love….

I don’t know how he still has hair… or any resemblance of sanity having me as a child.  Not that I was atrocious… but I tested my boundaries… In general, I pray for all fathers of daughters.  The world is not simple… it is not easy… and as strong of a ‘woman’ I may be I still know that it is far more dangerous for a chick out there than a guy.  Being male it is natural (or so I hear) to want to defend your woman (or daughter, mother, etc.)… but fatherhood seems to me a yet another cyclical battle of always questioning what is best.  This is fatherhood but the line between definitions is thinner with daughters.  Cyclical in trying to give her space vs. letting her fall… between letting her fall vs. helping her learn a lesson… helping her learn a lesson vs. saving her from danger… saving her from danger vs. protecting her life… and back to protecting her life vs. giving her space.  I’m not saying my dad ever had the answer to these battles in any given moment … what dad really, truly does?  But I know in those battles one thing remained constant… his love for me.  And yea, one thinks, ‘What father doesn’t love his daughter?’  But sadly I think we all know blood doesn’t necessarily confirm love.  Sure, love is grand but what seems extraordinary to me about my dad:  he never led on that his love was something to be earned… it was constant.  It would always be there.  No matter what battle of the circle he teetered on, his love wasn’t weakened NOR strengthened in any given moment… maybe his pride… but his love could never be put on a scale from one to ten.  His love for me (and my brother) was and still is one of his most prized possessions.   Maybe to all parents it doesn’t seem that magical or extraordinary… but to me… it is inspiring.  And it is important that I let him know I understand it now… I can see those moments when he had to let me learn my lesson or had to protect my life it wasn’t about the right or wrong lesson necessarily… or the physical or emotional protection… it was bigger… or maybe technically smaller… it was just love.

Though I know my dad would agree with this title quote… his frugal nature alone would favor the safe-ness of the words.  But I must say that when you build a backbone from being loved by my dad… and from having bits of my dad in it… or even in weaker moments, him becoming a backbone… the wishbone doesn’t seem so much an extra.  With my dad and his love behind me… my wishes and dreams just seem like they’re an extension of my backbone.  This one-year anniversary… of my own business… of my pursuing my passion… of me owning my own future… of me understanding what I am capable of … is also just the beginning of the merging of my wishbone and my backbone.

You’ll always be my first love, Papa!  xo xo.  erika@erikaleighphotography.com.

Family.

I’m so very proud of these images and these subjects.  I love who they are and what they represent… again… both images and subjects.  Image-wise they are my beginnings, my past… subjects wise they are my future… both are a vital part of my present.  The image on the lower right started and will remain one of the opening images into my web site… it is the beginning of ELP… take a walk with me… with us…

These final four (yes, a little delayed) inspirations will (if I get it right) be maybe some of the shortest write-ups I’ve written since starting this exploration of the inspiring.  :)  They need little explanation but deserve more words I could ever give them.  Hence I will try to honor them with less than more… because from what I hear less is more?

That being said… Buckhead Church is #4.  It is my favorite place in Atlanta, you wouldn’t know it though because it is a place I cry religiously… pun intended.  If you move to Atlanta within a week you will have been convinced to test the waters of Buckhead Church… even if you’re not a ‘religious person.’  It is the ‘cool’ thing to do, the place to meet ‘young good looking singles,’  and yes, ‘everybody’s doing it.’  When I moved into Atlanta I went ocassionally for all of those reasons.  It was when I wanted to MOVE out of Atlanta when I went for the right reasons.

It is not your traditional church, but I suppose traditional is very relative.  I’ll just say that the first twenty minutes can be compared to a full-fledged rock concert, baptisms occur in a large pool of water 50 or so feet above everyone’s heads and jeans/hats/t-shirts/flip flops/etc are all allowed and incredibly common in the audience of hundreds.  Police man the streets to help with parking, the programs/handouts are works of art and large screens and video feeds occasionally take the place of an in-the-flesh pastor.  These all make it different but not a distraction.  What makes it so ‘cool’ is that the mission is beautifully simple ‘to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.’  I realize I am touching on a sensitive subject of religion but like my #10 Goodbye Guy, it is a sensitive subject that is important to the validity of this list.

I will just say there has been no better change in my life than what caused me to find Buckhead Church.  But it took BC for me to realize that the change was a positive one. For me it has made me more whole, less lost and inspires me to want more out of what I give to the world… not what I get back.  Without spilling religion on anyone (much like BC) I pray that everyone has somewhere to go that brings their faith full circle.  Whatever you have faith in… may we all have FAITH.  It is a beautiful beautiful beautiful (one more time, beautiful) thing to believe in something that isn’t tangible or right in front of us… faith itself, in whatever it may be, makes way for the possibility of so many greater things that we could never have imagined.  Faith also makes those hard things in life so much less substantial by giving them purpose, paving the road for those great things we know nothing of… yet.  For me Buckhead Church has been my path to that inspiring notion of faith.

Buckhead Church’s head pastor Andy Stanley is probably as celeb as it comes to me now…  but check out his podcasts for some inspiration… no matter what your religious views, I have little doubt you’ll enjoy this man’s intelligence and words.  OR if you can’t make it to Buckhead in Atlanta go online at 6PM/5PM CST, to see what I see every Sunday… they broadcast the service live!  It rocks… so even when I visit Iowa I can get my weekly reminder of faith!  Go here for more info on Buckhead Church.

Hope everyone had a safe holiday!  Be in touch… erika@erikaleighphotography.com!

Forever.

Awwwww, love.  These two are real… you can sense from the image… but I’ll confirm… they have real love, adoration and respect for each other.  They are proof that true love exists and is worth all the battles and questions we face on the path to its conquest.

She’s hands down the best person I’ve met in my life… hands down… I love my family and my friends but she wins the award.  She is why I am here… why Erika Leigh Photography has not only made it to one year strong… but why it even exists.  She met me at a time in my life when I was happy and content but she saw I could be doing more… she believed in me… or believed in the terrible cliche, in the pursuit of happiness.  She knows all too well the truth of this title quote.  But even takes it one step further… she not only longs and hungers for these good and beautiful things, she goes after them.

I told her about my love of photography and she ran with it probably more than I did… she introduced me to Portfolio Center, she talked extensively and enthusiastically about there being no way I wouldn’t be successful and she was my first TRUE paying job!  I’ve never had huge confidence issues but if I did she filled in all the holes.  She up and moved away to follow her own dreams (of love) not too long back, but I still hear from her regularly, always a person that knows the exact words to say.  I have trouble expressing how crucial she was in me forgetting my insecurities and setting me up to follow my dreams… follow my heart.  So I hope I can put it simply as, Carissa, you made me make my dreams come true.   And like all my top inspirations there is a whole person not just one inspiring trait.  She is kind to all, she has no enemies, she is smart, she is witty, she is loyal, she is exactly what the world needs more of…

Non business wise it must be said… I’m young, yes, but I fully believe in perfect love.  Perfect being unique in every individuals eyes… but bottom line it is all encompassing, comfortable, unselfish and undeniable.  And I truly believe that everyone can find this and it can last a lifetime.  I meet many cynics.  I meet many settlers.  Carissa is not one of these.  Next to her amazing support for me, this love of love is what made all her words of encouragement and praise so worthwhile.  People are quick to advise but not always believers in their own medicine.  She could’ve told me all day long to take that risk but the reason her words stuck and hit home for me was because she was busy doing it herself… she knew the benefits of acting on a dream.  She knew the hurt it could cause, she knew the self-questioning I would face but she knew what I was reaching for was worth all of that… she knew, because she was in the middle of it and she could see the light.  She fought the battle to find true love.  She is proof that you live a life of goodness, it will come back to you ten-fold.  She continues to hunger for the beautiful and good… and it keeps finding her… just as it should!

erika@erikaleighphotography.com!