Back on track… I hired an assistant, purchased a custom made logo for fresh re-branding of my business and in the works of a small studio space in my home. Complete with a barn wood wall. I would say that blessed is an understatement.

In 2015 I have learned to say NO. It’s hard. I love my people and I hate to turn anyone away. BUT. In order to not burn myself and resent my job, I have finally learned to say no. So, in 2016 please don’t take it personally. I have set a number of sessions per month I will take on, including births. I am planning on taking on two sessions per month free of cost to those in need. I really do love to give my services as a gift to those I love, I wish I could make a living to provide for my family by just giving and helping. Unfortunately we all know that’s just not possible

Personally this year, I have learned that LOVE IS a choice. You choose to love those around you regardless of their imperfections. Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. and then its amazing again. and in between the amazing and the awful, it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful. -L.R. Knost.

Anyway, thank you for 2015! Happy New Year.

I took most of December OFF. I was able to enjoy every single second of every day off and not worry about being on-call! It was glorious   My Mom and I took my sweet baby girl to her very first Nutcracker ballet and a “fancy dinner” beforehand. Complete with a new dress, sparkly shoes and I even curled her hair. My heart may have fluttered a little as I stood there and curled her hair. We’ve had family and friends Christmas parties. Our annual girls Christmas party was so much fun too! We made gingerbread houses, visited the Alum creek lights, school Christmas parties and programs, wrestling matches, sleepover with friends, and visits with Santa, you name it. It’s been  an exciting month for sure!

Cheers to 2015, here’s to 2016!

Thank you all for making my year the most successful yet! Thank you for following my work and supporting my dreams. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have happy New Year!

<3

]]> https://blog.sarahshambaughphoto.com/?feed=rss2&p=3901 0 https://blog.sarahshambaughphoto.com/?p=3665 https://blog.sarahshambaughphoto.com/?p=3665#respond Thu, 05 Nov 2015 19:28:41 +0000 http://blog.sarahshambaughphoto.com/?p=3665 I’ve been kind of quiet in the Facebook world in the last few weeks… because I have been so so busy. I am finally caught up except for a session I just did yesterday and births… I’m not too far behind though so I’m proud of myself! Births take forever to edit because I give way too many images in a gallery and I edit every single image. I don’t batch edit. So I decided to take a second and blog my October!

In October, I posted a photo every day to raise awareness for stillbirth and infant loss on Facebook. I got a really good response from it and I am super happy with it. My last blog where I introduced the babies that I have photographed and are now in Heaven… I knew people would either love it or hate it. I’m glad I think the majority loved it. And if you didn’t love it, eh I’ll just pretend you did!

I also turned 3o. Yes. 30. WAHHHHH! I cannot believe I am THIRTY YEARS OLD. Didn’t I just graduate high school? Time is flying. To celebrate, 11 of my closest friends (minus a few that couldn’t make it) spent 4 days in the Great Smokey Mountains in a huge cabin, and we had the time of our lives, with no kids. It was incredible and so much fun.

Jillian had a field trip to the pumpkin patch, and Hayden had a pumpkin Math day. Both were tons of fun, I truly enjoy being a part of my kiddos classrooms.

I also ran a half marathon. Yea. No big deal. lol. Just kidding.  The Nationwide Children’s hospital half marathon. I didn’t train like I should have but I made it. I have no idea how I made it through because it was the worst thing I have ever done, and I will never do it again. It was for an amazing cause… that’s the only reason I kept going. I couldn’t walk for a week after and my foot still isn’t right but hey, I completed 13.1 miles. I ran/walked until mile 9… at that point I was in tears. I didn’t know how I could take another step let alone 4 more miles. I cried, a lot. Sobbed really lol. but Eliana’s momma Naomi met me at mile 11 (the angel mile) and I literally fell into her arms and cried that ugly cry. haha! She walked my last 2 miles with me and then I ran across the finish line. What an experience. I am glad I did it! Next year, I will be volunteering instead of running though.

I also photographed the Zassys Treasures Barn sale, and as always it was INCREDIBLE! Tons of vendors, and people. Cassy really is so talented. I hope to do a blog post on that soon too.

I surprised my husband with Dustin Lynch tickets… vip. haha

A friend of mine had a double mastectomy and rocked it. I had the pleasure of photographing her and her husband a few days before the surgery. God, she is beautiful. Keep Kickin’ cancers bootay girlfran.

We had trick- or- treat and a HUGE kids halloween party. Way too many children lol.

I had three births (a surrogate birth that I can’t WAIT to share)  and 4 newborn sessions. Just in the last two weeks.

and two days of Fall mini sessions.

I also found the perfect assistant that I have hired, she will start sometime next week or so. I’m really excited to have some help and I know she will be amazing, I can’t wait to introduce her!

Can you guess what Jill was for Halloween?  lol Hint: Hocus Pocus ;)Hayden had a little wardrobe malfunction so ended up being a hunter at the very last minute. haha!

If you haven’t heard of their organization… click HERE to find out more.

One of my little buddies wanted to come home with me, he was so so sweet. We will call him E. E kept asking, “do you have Tv’s in Ohio? What about play-stations? Do you even have cars?” “Yes bud, we have all of that but instead of Palm trees, we have cornfields” lol. They thought that was SO cool. He told me he is on honor roll and likes to play football.  I wish I could bring him home with me. He said he would just get in my suitcase and no one would notice. <3 Ah. He pulled on my heart with that one.

It was a rough start for our group, not for all of the kids, but some. It’s almost like a few of the kids were too cool to be at Disney. But by the end of the day we became best friends. They let finally let loose and decided to just have fun. Be a kid. and enjoy every second. It makes me so sad to know I will probably never see these kids again.

5am mimosas of course!

Made it to Vegas! Of course slot machines waited for us as we stepped off the plane.

Our home for a few days!

….and our ride. Ahhhh pure bliss. Off to Huntington beach! Even their GROUND glitters, do you see it?! haha

 Our day at Disneyland…

My team leaders, Team Hercules!

Photographer check list!

Each kiddo received 25 dollars to spend on whatever they wanted

Lunch was provided for everyone!

…. and churros! Apparently those are big out in California. I had never had one. (gasp!)

She was so proud of her snake. <3

Apparently there are hidden mickey ears all over the park!

Our attempt at a jumping picture lol.

Making the most of our California trip…. Heading to Los Angeles and Hollywood for the day!

Bye Cali! Until next year!

Columbus Ohio. Home.

Thank you to Together We Rise for giving us such an incredible opportunity, we will see you next year! We left with a full heart, that is for sure.

In the next few weeks/months we will do a Sweet Cases fundraiser… Keep an eye out for more information later! We hope you’ll be a part of it!

Sweet cases

When most children enter foster care
they receive two trash bags. Sweet cases fundraising changes that.

Must be…

• Trustworthy, responsible, outgoing, & organized. Interest in photography required. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Technology savvy
• Detail oriented
• Punctual
• “quick learner”

• Must be able to commit to 5-8+  hours a week.
• $12.00 an hour.
• Responsibilities:  Managing social media account (Facebook and Instagram), blogging, watermarking images.
• Transferring galleries to USB drives, packaging and sending to client.
• Uploading galleries.
• Occasionally answer emails.

• This position will be required to work with me in my home office (Orient, Ohio just 5 minutes outside of Grove City) for the first few work days. When you and I both feel you completely understand tasks, you may work from your home. A computer (preferably an iMac or Macbook) of your own is required to work at home.

• This job will be under a 90 day trial period.

• To apply, please send a detailed paragraph about yourself to sarah@sarahshambaughphoto.com.

That’s just ONE scenario. Just one.

I really really do love my job. But lets talk about back up photographers for a second. It literally takes a village. You have GOT to have a good support system to do this. You have plans on a Friday night for a hockey game with your husband and some of your favorite friends. Thursday night, you get a call that a Momma is in labor. Yes, babies come on THEIR own time. You can’t predict it. When it’s time, it’s time. You wait around all day Thursday for Momma to have baby. and while you are frustrated for her and her 24+ labor. You realize that time is passing and you’re getting closer and closer to that 7pm hockey game. 4:00 rolls around and you’re still not home, still at the hospital, and baby is not here yet. You have to call your friends and your husband to let them know, sorry you can’t go. You can tell your husband is instantly upset about it. In your head you think “it’s just a hockey game”. but in  reality, you’re missing something that was important to him. And quite frankly, you were looking forward to a night out too.  So sadly, you have to miss out, again. And everyone else misses out too. The tickets go to waste.

Next… For example… The month of May is CRAZY. Legitimately, busy. My son turns 7 on May 11th. and you know what. I CANNOT miss his birthday, or his birthday party. OR his Mothers day lunch at school, etc. and I hate missing his baseball games. My heart breaks at the thought of it. This is where my second part of the village comes into play.  My back up photographers. I have chosen my backup photographers because I trust them and have complete confidence in them. and you know what? They will be there when I can’t. I absolutely REFUSE to miss out on my kids lives because of this job. I REFUSE to make them suffer. THEN, there is my husband, I don’t want to let him down either.  My mind spins. and THEN lastly, myself.  I cannot  miss out on every single thing in life because of this job. I would end up hating it. I would end up dreading it and resenting it. No, I can’t do that to myself. While, I do miss out on SO much. There are some things I have to put my foot down and say, this is important to me. I CANT miss it and I won’t.  I am literally on call ALL THE TIME. I’m basically like a Doctor. Without the pay or the title haha! Doctors and midwives have back up…. So  do I! There is such a fine line between work and play. I am my own boss. I make my own schedule. and while that sounds all peachy and pretty sweet, its hard! When is my designated work time? Should I be playing with my kids? or should I be working? Gosh, I have SO much to do. The house needs cleaned, the laundry needs put away. Oh ugh, it’s time to go to the grocery store  again. I know I am not alone in this. All small business owners struggle with this and wonder if they are doing enough or doing it the right way. First and foremost, I am a Mom. Nothing will come between that. Not even my job. I would hope that in this line of work, my clients would understand that. I just want to be clear that yes, I will still live my life while trying to photograph THE most important days of your lives. BUT I will not sacrifice everything in my life for this job. I don’t want to look back some day and say, man I wish I would have played with my kids more. I wish I wouldn’t have put my work first. No one will ever look back and say, “gosh I wish I would have worked more.” It’s just reality.

Emails. Can I vent about emails? I hate answering emails. Honest! It’s so time consuming. I am horrible at it, and I will admit it! If it’s not urgent it wont be answered right away. I refuse to answer emails from my phone. I already have my phone attached to my hip. I will not sit and reply to everyone on my phone. I will answer emails once or twice a week. Let’s get real, its probably even more than a week. I am human! Sometimes emails slip through my fingers. Sometimes, I accidentally delete them because my inbox marked them as spam. Sure it’s probably not 100% best for my business for me to be so slow at answering emails, but you know what, that’s ok! I am ok with that! I do my best. That’s all that matters. If I don’t respond to an email, feel free to email me again. Just try to understand as well I appreciate it more than you know! I am NOT superwoman. Crazy right??! haha just kidding.

So, yes this is my job. and boy do I LOVE IT! I really do. But this is SO HARD. On myself and my village.  Others are counting on you. To be there for the most important day of their lives. That is a lot to hold on your shoulders 24/7. I just wanted to write this to kind of get this off of my chest. Just like anything else in life, it’s not all butterflies and glitter. It is HARD. The waiting game is hard. With that being said… in the upcoming months (I still haven’t figured out exactly when) I will be making some changes to how I run things. I will not stay for 5+ hours after the birth of a baby anymore. UNLESS it is added on for an additional cost. I know this kind of stinks, and none of us have any say in how things are done after birth. It is up to the hospital. Which to me, hospital time is like football time. 4 minutes left in a quarter is really equivalent to 20 minutes In the last few months, I have waited and waited and waited. And after I have been there for 12+ hours already. I can’t keep doing that to myself. I KNOW this is an investment and you are probably thinking “well if I pay you all of that money to be at my birth, why can’t you  just stay?” Trust me, I would think that too if I were on the other end and didn’t know all that went into this! My contract states I will stay for 1-2 hours after birth. I am going to have to start sticking to it. What is forgotten about is all the time I put into this at home as well!

Thank you for reading all of that! Hopefully I could shed some light into this little job of mine. Thank you all for supporting me! <3

Watch it HERE!!

All taken and recorded with the best little device since sliced bread… the GO-PRO!!!

 A few weeks ago I received an email from a Student in Toledo that is majoring in photography. She asked me to answer a few questions for her so I thought I would share in case anyone else wants to know! I hope this helps Melanie!

• What does a typical work day look like for you? There are two different “work” days for me. One in the hospital and one at home in front of my iMac. At the hospital there is a lot of waiting, and waiting. I usually work on my Macbook while I wait. I typically stay for about 2-3 hours after baby is born. I like to capture the first bath, and for siblings and grandparents to meet baby for the first time. I am usually at the hospital for 10-14 hours. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The longest labor I have had was 17 hours. Momma was in labor for 36 hours but I was there for 17 of them My work day at home: is completely different each day haha. I don’t sit down and work every day. I have two kids that don’t allow for that! I try to work on the days my Husband is home or get a sitter. All of which can be exhausting. Any one who works from home and has kids knows how this goes down, lol.
  

• Was this the field you intended on going into? Nope. I never intended to  make photography my career actually. When I first started I started as a hobby. Then I started doing weddings. I photographed everything from parties, to weddings, to family photos. It wasn’t until I had my daughter that I realized birth photography was where I needed to be.

• What has been your favorite project you have done so far? Project, as in birth? My favorite birth. Gosh I have SO many I don’t think I can pick just one. But one of my all time favorites is baby Korbyns here is her link: http://blog.sarahshambaughphoto.com/?p=2291 I think I loved it so much because I really watched Mom and Dad love each other. Not that everyone doesn’t but I could feel it. They were so sweet to watch. Also because Daddy delivered his baby (with the doctors help of course!). It was day time. haha as funny as that sounds, I have SO many night time births, and while I love those too, I am in love with natural light. The light beamed through the windows as if the outside world was full of joy as Korbyn came into this world. Corny I know. But that’s how I see it. Another reason… BIG brother met Korbyn, and was in love with her. He was so cute to watch. I LOVED this part because it was JUST THEM. Just the new family of four and me behind the lens like I wasn’t even there. No distractions. Just taking it all in as this new family met for the first time. I really hit close to home for me as I remember seeing my son for the first time after my daughter was born. The feeling is indescribable. Projects? I love putting together the slideshows. I love making them fit to music and seeing my final product. If it makes me cry or have goosebumps, I know I’ve done good
  

• What has been your most dreaded project or thing you like to do the least? I HATE burning CD’s. I hate hate hate it. Did I mention I hate it? Soon I will go to online gallery only or to flash drives. Flash drives are expenseive (to me) to order in bulk with my logo on them. So I am working on swallowing that pill! haha

• How much advertising do you do compared to taking pictures? I don’t advertise much. I use Facebook. Which is getting hard to do because Facebook is basically picking WHO sees your photos you post. It’s annoying. Sometimes, only 400ish people will “see” a post that should reach WAY more than that. The more “likes” or comments a photo gets, the more people it reaches. It’s tricky. It never used to be that way. I also went on a show a few months ago called “Daytime Columbus” with Gail Hogan. I think that was HUGE for my business. I was a nervous wreck but I am so glad I did it! I think it really was a great way to get my name out there a little more! Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement!

• Are you apart of any professional photography organizations? Yes! I am a part of the PPA (Professional Photographers Association), a part of Professional Birth Photographers Association,  http://birthphotographers.com/  and a Part of NILMDTS (Now I lay Me Down To Sleep) http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

• Do you work with anyone like an accountant or stylist? No I like to do it all myself. haha I am kind of a perfectionist. I like to work with someone for my taxes but that’s about it.

• Do you work alone or have any employees? I work alone MOST of the time. I do have some of my best friends as back up photographers or second shooters. They have their own business as well. We just kind of help each other out, or host mini sessions together a couple times a year!

• Have you ever had an intern or done mentoring? I haven’t done either. I have thought about doing mentoring or getting an intern to help with behind the scenes work but haven’t done it. Mentoring is hard for me because, I am hands on. I am self taught. Another photographer helped me learn the concept of shooting in manual mode. but other than that it’s all trial and error. I am not good at explaining things to people. I just know how to do it, not explain it.

• What type of camera and lenses do you use? I use  canon! 5d mark II. I want to get a 5d Mark III soon though! The shutter click is so much quieter! I mainly use my 35mm 1.4 lens. I have my 50mm 1.2 lens in my bag with me though. I don’t use flash.

• When shooting in the hospital what do you usually set your camera to? (manual,priority?) ALWAYS ALWAYS Manual mode. A photographer once told me when I was first learning that, THAT is the difference between a professional and a a hobbyist. I also always adjust my white balance.

• How do you handle the low light in the hospital? High(er) ISO, low(er) shutter speed! I like to keep my F stop around a 2.0

• How do you decide on your pricing? If this is too personal of a question you do not have to answer. I am still asking myself this question haha. I KNOW I am worth more. I try to be reasonable but Birth Photography isn’t cheap. I try to take into account what other birth photographers are priced at. and how much I value myself and my work. AND my time. It’s very time consuming. People see a the price and see sticker shock. I understand that it isn’t for everyone. and that’s ok. But just like anything in life, if you want it bad enough, make it happen. There are 9 months to prepare for this baby, I have lots of clients paying monthly installments or pay whenever they can!

• What advice can you give me as I start my career in photography?
   Find your niche. For some it is weddings, for others it’s newborns. For me it is birth. It took me awhile to find this out. But find it! I started to lose my passion behind the lens because I wasn’t completely happy  doing weddings and such. Also, don’t get discouraged. I still struggle sometimes with this! Don’t compare yourself to others. Just work HARD. Promote yourself and don’t give up!  Rome wasn’t built in a day!

A few months ago I went on TV. HOLY MOLY this was so huge for me! I sat down and did an interview with Gail Hogan all about my birth photography. I loved it. What an experience!  Tasha of Tasha Braniff Photography went as my side kick for support. Thank GOD because I was a nervous wreck. I walked into the NBC 4 studios, the executive producer came out with a huge  basket of edible arrangements from one of my long time best friends, Katie. Seriously! Such a sweet surprise! I am so glad I had this opportunity and beyond thankful for it! It was so worth it!

If you didn’t get to see the interview that day… here it is!

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