Things I'm Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving!  Every year I like to make a list of all the things I'm thankful for and I thought I'd share some of them with you this year.

I'm so very thankful for....

My loving and supportive husband and for having found...

My wonderful daughter.  I'm so blessed to have her.

Her love for animals and our shared passion for horses; although I know this will cost me a lot as she get older.

My Family and Friends who are always there for me.  I'm very blessed to have so many great people in my life.

photo a friend took of me and a snake.  I've come a long way.

My daughter and some of my friends for getting me over my fear of snakes, especially since she wants one of her own.

One on the rescue horses who is old, blind, and losing his hearing.  He loves his relaxing days at the barn and the attention he gets.  The barn he came from wanted to put him down 10years ago because he lost his sight, here he was given a home and hope.

Days spent in the saddle and being able to volunteer some time to my friend's horse rescue.  I feel very blessed for the days I've gotten to spend with these wonderful animals and people.

Living so close to nature and getting to see wildlife so often.  Thank God I'm a country girl!!

My camera which allows me to capture so many special memories for myself and others.

For the couples that gave me a chance to capture their special day on film and for everyone that I've photographed.

I feel so close to the people I've photographed and so honored that they chose me to give them images that will bring back the memories of that day.

After super storm Sandy I've realized how thankful we are to have electric, our house, and food to eat.  My heart goes out to those who are without.

I have one more tiny thing to be thankful for this year, and while it's tiny my who family is beyond  excited about this last blessing....I'm so very thankful for the surprise we got 4 months ago - I'm pregnant!!!

me 16weeks into this pregnancy :)

I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving and stays safe.  

To get over one of my largest fears...

I've always had a huge phobia of snakes.  My fear was so bad I would get the chills and freak out over seeing a photo of one, or seeing it on TV.  A couple of my friends have snakes and they use to creep me out.  My family use to think it was a big joke and pick on me for it.  I never really wanted to get over my fear but my daughter had no fear of the animals...actually it was quite the opposite, she loved them and became obsessed with wanting to see the snakes every time we'd visit our friends with them.  I was soon forced to get over my fear for her.

Above photo is of one of my friends baby snakes

Below is the same friend with her corn snake

The easiest way for me to work on getting over my fear was to go with my daughter when she went in the room to look at the snakes in the tank.  I soon found the one to be very pretty.  My one friend who owns the snakes is the same form the post "The Morning After" so I told her I'd photograph her rings with the snakes.  That small barrier of my camera lens between me and the snakes really worked because I kept moving around the snake trying to get different angles and once in a while I'd jump because I was closer than I thought or the snake moved towards me.

I had my camera bag sitting on a table top and this snake slithered right up on top of it making me realize that I should never sit my camera bag on the ground outside again.

The next step to me getting over my fear was to hold it.  I was a little freaked out but am so happy I did because I realized that not all snakes are bad...and some are really pretty and nice.  Below is a photo my mom took of me holding a snake with my husband and daughter.

One day I went over to one of my other friends houses and found out on that in order to go into the bathroom or kitchen you had to walk through her reptile room! The first time I went over to her house I didn't leave the living room, but eventually after visiting her a couple times I told her that I'd love to photograph her animals for her.

Here is a custom edit of her with one of her 8ft albino snakes

 


A great thing happened in just a short amount of time.  I found the beauty in this creature I has such a huge fear of.  I found the texture and colors to be wonderful.  I enjoyed photographing these snakes and even look forward to capturing more of these creatures on camera.  

My fear isn't completely gone I still have fear of coming across one in the woods and I won't be stopping to photograph that one.

At the end of this photo shoot my friend had me hold her 8 foot albino snake...and here's a photo of me with it...actually laughing because I had a huge snake around my neck!!