Wildflowers Photography

instagrams of OUR family!

Joy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:04:59 +0000

so, things are always chaotic over here, a beautiful chaos for sure, but one that i have to choose to see as ‘glass half full’ most of the time, it doesn’t always come naturally. i guess i am just a stressball by nature but God surely gave me grace in giving me my very kind, patient and forgiving husband that holds me and grounds me at the end of every day. :) to say that the last few years have been a whirlwind would be an understatement. all in less than five years donny and i got married, had gracie just after, our businesses took off, we moved a few times, i had a long list of health issues, we had brandon, had our sweet clementine and all the while were trying to figure out what “normal” was, with the new normal changing all the time and donny and i switching roles, trying to find the best way to balance our growing businesses and family and also find time to be happy. i can’t count how many times we have said “well, after this we will be able to relax and enjoy life”! well, in waiting for the relaxation to come i realized it just never will, lol! this chaos is our normal, there is always a mess, there are always little ones screaming about something, i am always trying to find my head because i swear i lose it every day and donny and i continually have to grasp ahold of one another at the end of each day and literally count to twenty to be able to take a breath and remember where is all began… in those moments there is intense beauty. and i can finally say that i have given in to not fighting the madness and am making big strides to embrace the now. i have set better boundaries, i have gotten help with my business, i have changed the way i structure my sessions and have taken on less and i have really tried to be more present in the lives of my children. it has made a big difference in me and for them. i think i got so overwhelmed for so many years that i began to hide… from relationships and actually enjoying life and i know that the people that suffered the most were the ones that were/are the most important. so, in an effort of being free of the hiding, i am opening up. i am enjoying relationships with people. i am digging in with my kids more than ever and trying to find the happy in each day, even if it is just for donuts in the morning. we are making changes in our home and may be making a location change by the end of the year (the simple country life has been calling on me for a while, i was just scared to listen… i will be sure to update you as things develop). things professionally are good. i love my business and even more so now that it seems that my clients get me as a whole and desire creativity, passion and fun in their photographs and i will continue to shoot and work as i still find great joy in it! i have LOVED the women i have had the honor of getting to know the hearts of at my workshops; what a blessing to have a place where we have all felt safe to let it all unwind, be honest and be filled back up with what really matters. and i have made a big effort to start documenting every day with my kids. i have always been a big believer in leaving my big camera at home when i am with the kids… i just feel it distances me from them and puts me into photographer mode as well as the fact that i don’t have access to both hands (with three kids i need all the hands i can get!). but i did always feel like i was missing the great little beautiful moments of their childhood aside from our occasional photo shoot. well, donny got me the gift of an iphone a few months back and it has finally filled that void for me! i am so thankful for instagram as i can snap the kids and edit the pic in less than 20 seconds (yay for instant gratification!), still be present with them and also have a great memory for them. i actually print all of them out as 5″x5″ prints (i can’t say this about all the millions of other digital images i have!) and it is so fun to be able to have them for projects for the kids, making albums, flipping through remembering the joy (i use whcc but instaprint and mpix i have also heard print the square sizes). so, i am taking pleasure in my instagrams and am going to start sharing a lot more of them on my blog. i was hesitant at first because i know, i am a professional photographer and i always felt i should showcase professional images but in an effort of being real, here ya go. this is our life. messy, fun, stressful at times, difficult at times but we all try to hold each other at the end of every day. a big thank you to you if you read this all the way to the end! thank you for supporting me, some of you close by and some of you from a distance. thank you for your patience and kindness on our continual journey towards our happy place. xo :)

if you are on instagram and would like to follow me and our crazy life, my user name is ‘joyprouty’… just know in advance that i like to take pictures (of our kids, our chickens, our garden and our random dance parties) and sometimes a lot of them. here are some of my favorites from the last two months. my lil clementine (clemmie bug as brandon calls her) is getting big!!! :)

“a wildflowers workshop” new 2012 dates!!!

Joy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:29:24 +0000

we have added new dates & locations for this year and are so very excited for all the fun to come! :) things to know about our pro workshops: these workshops for women photographers at any level of their craft (we take 20 women per workshop), we spend 2 1/2 days together talking everything related to business, we style & photograph two themed sessions, teach how to build storytelling and creativity into your photo sessions, discuss prop making, cover streamlining your workflow, marketing effectively, finding the heart of your passion for photography and making your business unique to YOU, balancing everything and how it relates specifically to us as women/wives/mamas/creatives/business people – aka being superwomen. ;) the cost is $1400 and covers instruction, meals during the workshop, our workshop book and a serious amount of bonding and fun (travel & lodging not included but we give lots of recommendations and have facebook groups set up for attendees to get to know each other and arrange sharing all that good stuff). if you are not familiar with our workshops please visit our workshop website here for all the important info before you inquire to register (also, our workshop website has not been updated with these new dates but all the info there otherwise is current). we may also be adding a workshop in the summer but we are still ironing out the details.

dates & locations of our upcoming workshops:

april 16th – 18th (mon, tues, weds): santa barbara, california at milk & honey farm! (registration is currently open)

may 22nd – 24th (tues, weds, thurs): round top, texas at rachel ashwell’s the prairie! (only two spots remaining)

october 9th – 11th (tues, weds, thurs): asheville, north carolina at the historic brigman house! (registration is currently open)

*if you would like to register for one of our workshops please email us directly at joy@wildflowersphotos.com. thank you SO much! :)

milk & honey farm in santa barbara…

rachel ashwell’s the prairie in round top, texas…the historic brigman house in asheville, north carolina…

a dr. seuss inspired shoot!

Joy — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:10:09 +0000

our little do-it-yourself crafty take on a dr. seuss scene inspired by this sweet family’s own adorable ‘thing 1 and thing 2′ !

the nativity session.

Joy — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:47:33 +0000

“our story began long ago, far away. when an angel appeared to mary one day. she’d been chosen to have a special son, and he was going to save everyone! but when the time came, mary was told to travel to bethlehem in the cold. donkey carried mary on the long ride as joseph walked at their side. when they arrived at the end of the day, they looked for somewhere warm to stay. the ox shared his stable with them all, he was proud of his home, so warm but small. there was no room at the inn that night, so the dry straw bed was a welcome sight. the lamb was the first to see the bright light, he showed the shepherds the wondrous sight. the angel told where Jesus would be born and said they must hurry before the morn. their journey ended under the starry sky when they heard the angels singing on high. in the stable below lying in the hay, was the baby Jesus to show the way!!!! it was the first Christmas day!”

merry Christmas!

(be sure to scroll all the way to the end for a very special video of this session!)

(written version of the story as told in the children’s book, ‘the nativity’.)

the children: my three little ones… gracie (mary), brandon (the smaller shepherd) & clementine (baby Jesus). and their sweet buddies: jacob (joseph), tyler (the bigger shepherd) & ella (angel).

a big, huge thank you my amazing friend shauna reed for her genius and the incredibly beautiful wardrobe & prop creations!

we were also incredibly blessed to have the very talented videographer marianne bach create a video of the making of the nativity session. it is just beautiful. i ADORE it and i know you are going to love it too. the lovely song in the video is “come ye angels” by grace laxson & tom monson. (tip: if the video does not show up at first, try reloading the page!)

the nativity. from Marianne Bach on Vimeo.

Twister & Waffles with the Parsons family!

Joy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:59:36 +0000

this is the parsons family, down for a visit all the way from friday harbor, washington! sara and her hubby, sean, are college sweethearts and have been married for 11 years (and i can testify after photographing them that they are still giddy in love). stella is 8, she loves to laugh. jonah is 6 and all boy. ava is 4, the baby, silly and loves to be barefoot. sara is a photographer too but they had never had family photos taken and when she wrote me an email with the starting sentence “hi, my name is sara and i am your number one fan” i knew we would get along famously. ;) she said they would be near me for thanksgiving and would love to have a family session. what stuck out in sara’s email more than anything was that “they were so thankful to be a family” which i thought was just plain inspirational. not everyone can say that! so, the parsons have a tradition of waffle breakfasts with lots of syrup and laughter so we of course had to keep the tradition rollin for the shoot along with a vintage game of twister for a little extra fun. :) and i feel like i gained some very sweet friends in the process…

Mon & Milk’s Engagement Session… all the way from Hong Kong!

Joy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:30:33 +0000

yup, they traveled allllll the way from the other side of the world for this session! i was so nervous and excited (mon & milk, thank you for that incredible honor)! they made a wonderful californian adventure out of the trip, we all hugged when we finally met and then i got a glimpse at the amazing accessories and cameras that they brought along for the photos (mon is a photographer, too)… check out that hasselblad!!! it is on my dream list (swoon)! they were so adorable and giddy and we lived it up having some good ole’ american fun at the pumpkin patch!

a very MERRY day with the Lawrence family!

Joy — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:35:07 +0000

such a wonderfully fun time at the Christmas tree farm with joey lawrence and his beautiful family! :)

Something very special is coming.

Joy — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:21:17 +0000

the celebration of the birth of Jesus!

i can hardly wait to unveil this special photo project! coming to the blog just before Christmas…

Skye & Gary and their homespun farm stand!

Joy — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:02:30 +0000

a little over a year ago i was so excited to have my dear friend, skye, ask me to photograph an engagement shoot for her and her hubby-to-be, gary! you may know her as the genius child photographer behind work of heart photography and the inspirational blog, reverie mine! and if you are familiar with her work, i am sure you know the butterflies i was feeling in being given such a wonderful honor of photographing her and her beau! so she told me their story and how they were such farm folks at heart and really loved to get to the heart of simple, organic living… and the theme for our homespun farm stand shoot was born! over the course of time we had some scheduling conflicts and somehow it turned into their first anniversary shoot instead of an engagement shoot! so after over a year of brainstorming, collecting, crafting and getting excited, it finally happened. as for the planning, we incorporated our “new” prop, a 1954 lakewood vintage trailer, and transformed it into a funky farm stand itself (we totally renovated it!). we spent hours wrapping gourds and squash to give it them all sweaters for that homespun crafty feel and collaborated on all the fresh veggies and crates. it really was quite magical, and what a true honor it was to photograph a couple that i know holds marriage so very sacred under God and that are just over the moon passionate about one another. xoxo

“What Little Boys Are Made Of” – themed session!

Joy — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:02:04 +0000

this is a new favorite session of mine! cameron & carson’s mama had told me all about how these brothers were 100% boy… getting dirty, building forts, fishing with sticks, catching bugs in jars (especially fireflies like they had done in the country!) and running free. and so the vision for this shoot was born; “frogs and snail and puppy dog tails” with a bit of a holiday feel thrown in. it felt like pure magic that evening. before we headed to our location, donny chopped off some branches off of the tree in our backyard to build the branch fort for the boys and it was so special how even as he was setting up when we got there, cameron and carson were right in there with him with their imaginations running wild from the first second! this shoot really shows the beauty of why we love telling a story with our family sessions, especially with the children, they just get right in there and start playing in this wonderland made special just for them. there was hardly any posing, just waiting for the boys to get into character. :)

i usually like to blog in the sequence that the session unfolded, however, i have to begin with one of the firefly images and then go back to the beginning so that you will be more likely to scroll all the way to the bottom… i promise it will be worth it (i just couldn’t narrow these down)!