Shoot & Share Contest | Winner!

Yesterday, I was moved to tears when I found out this news! I can’t believe that I received FIRST PLACE in the maternity category for a contest that was open to photographers WORLDWIDE. Over 110, 000 photos were entered into the Shoot & Share contest into multiple categories and over 23 MILLION votes were cast by over 73,000 people! I truly am SHOCKED and am in AWE and I don’t understand how this happened but I am beyond GRATEFUL!!! :)
 
When I started exploring the world of photography, I kept running into discouragement and disappointments. It was overwhelming to enter into a growing industry where many of the people involved chose competitiveness over friendship. I have battled with myself for years about how I choose to run my business, I’ve been told that I’m doing it wrong and I can’t succeed if I don’t have a business mind. But I just don’t. I don’t have a mind that revolves around business… and that’s okay with me. What I do have is a heart that breaks for people and that yearns for a closer relationship with Jesus. My heart chooses friendships over business connections and my mind chooses to be creativity led rather than business led. This is how I was made and I would never change that just to fit into the photography industry.
 
To me, being SUCCESSFUL, means being HAPPY! And I believe that being HAPPY comes from being KIND, helping others and LOVING yourself! It’s so important for YOU to know that you can go after your dreams and achieve them in YOUR OWN WAY! Don’t worry about having the type of “success” that the world craves… find your own success by choosing HAPPINESS! And when you’re genuinely happy, well, you just don’t really care if others think you’re doing it wrong. :)
 
“Don’t follow the crowd… they don’t know where they’re going!” ;)
 

This is my photo that won FIRST PLACE in the maternity category! I truly did not expect this! I’m so thankful! :)

And this photo won THIRD PLACE in the maternity category!

I was amazed when I found out last week that I won third place… so to have the news about winning first place was beyond surprising! There were almost 4000 photos entered into the maternity category alone… I can’t believe that two of my photos made their way to the TOP THREE!!! I can’t say enough how grateful I am for this opportunity and how much I truly did not expect this! I wouldn’t be where I am in photography without all of YOU who choose to support me! And of course, I wouldn’t be here without Jesus! Does that sound cheesy? Maybe, but it’s the truth! It’s crazy that photography started for me as a result of my apartment burning down… you can read the story about that here. It’s amazing that Jesus can take something that the world sees as a disaster, and make it into something beautifully and positively life altering! :) THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!!! :)